Pick Up a Broom and Sweep

When I was a teenager, and brighter than everyone, I worked for my father.  Like any young man without any responsibilities my work ethic left a lot to be desired.  My father “employed” me at that age for a few reasons, as best as I can tell.  First of all, for some reason, he wanted to spend time with me.  Additionally he enjoyed the cheap labor, as shoddy as it was.  Thirdly, he wanted to use these experiences as teachable periods.  The work was not the glamorous type you might expect in a old service station, but consisted of tearing down old drywall, putting up paneling, painting, cleaning, and putting down carpet.  One day while working a specific project, we discovered we were missing a necessary tool for the job.  Like any teenage boy, I decided to sit down and take a bit of a break to quietly complain about my tough life, under my breath.  After a couple of minutes, my father walked over and said something to me that has stuck with me for over 25 years.  He initiated the exchange by asking me what I was doing.  I explained that the tool we needed wouldn’t be to the worksite for about an hour, so I was waiting.  He told me, “son, there is always something to do, pick up that broom and sweep”.  I looked at the floor, and much to my chagrin he was right.  In fact it turns out, the floor was a mess, there were paintbrushes that needed a good rinsing, and a load of trash that needed to be taken out.  So I did what he said, and started sweeping.

That was a long way of saying to you all, that there is always some sort of constructive direction that you can take your life.  If you are in the middle of a heavy training cycle in your workouts, maybe extra time that you have needs to be spent on recovery of some sort: foam rolling, stretching, contrast baths.  If you watch five hours of television every night, just about anything you do instead of that will improve your life in some fashion.  Read a non fiction book, study how to invest for retirement, prepare meals for the week, learn to play a musical instrument, play with your children, talk to your spouse, work on your “honey do” list, work overtime, get a part time job, and the list could go on forever.  I am not hating on good old fashion leisure activities to escape for a bit, but keep them in check.  While playing your Xbox or whatever they have out these days is surely fun, it won’t make you a deeper person and certainly won’t bring you long-term happiness. So turn off the television, drop your gaming controller and do something that will make you happier in the long run.  In other words, “pick up a broom and sweep”!