Enjoying life vs. improving life
Wisdom from author E.B. White:
“If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”
And when we turn that quote inward, we often have a stark choice between improving ourselves and enjoying ourselves, as it’s often hard to do both.
For example, we can go to work on improving our financial situation (and, sometimes, ourselves). And though it may be satisfying, we don’t usually label it enjoyable or fun.
Or think of studying to try to earn an A in a class, for example, or spending a Saturday morning cleaning up a stretch of highway, both great activities for improving ourselves and/or the world around us. And again, satisfying and rewarding, but not in the same category as fun.
On the other hand, most of the leisure we choose in our lives does a great job of helping us enjoy the world, but it doesn’t do much at all to improve the world. A weekend on the coast might well be fun and relaxing, but not be much in the improvement category.
Do I eat that second piece of chocolate cake (enjoyment) or stick with my planned healthy meal (improvement)?
This is a challenge in our modern lives.
We want to both improve and enjoy!
And it’s a challenge to create a balance!
The good news is that we get to choose!
Every morning, when we roll out of bed, we get to choose between the improving and the enjoying as we strive to 
create some balance!
So maybe there’s some chocolate to eat and some great music to listen or dance to?
And then… some energy devoted to a personal goal or contribution to the general good of others?
How do you live your life?
Enjoying and/or improving?
5 Comments
Finding balance is truly something that one can work on ALL the time! When I am all stressed I need to take a breath and imagine I am at Priest Lake…………… Great food for thought!
Improving and enjoying. Every day I set a goal to help at least one person (youth, hungry, homeless, need some help, idea or thought) and enjoy the result. Another victory for that day. Again, for self, both improve and enjoy. There are always things to do to improve what you do, so find them and work harder at them. The results are another victory and enjoy making yourself better. Finding a way to help another person makes you quietly enjoy their betterment. Sit in the back row and enjoy their success and feel both your own and their victory – to improve someone else at anything makes you feel good inside and see your improvement too.
Earl, I like your ability to accumulate “victories.”
It’s a good way to marry improving AND enjoying.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
Since I believe in the collective unconscious or “the force” then everything we think or feel sends ripples out. Therefore, we can be at the beach enjoying ourselves and still improving the world as our good feelings are picked up by others no matter where they are in the world. So go have fun, enjoy yourselves and quit worrying about having to choose.
Mary, your comments are right on. Being semi-retired for a couple years has caused the ‘old’ me to feel all the “empty” hours as wasted. The new me is learning to enjoy myself and contribute to the “ripples”!!!