One of the things that is part of living the QTR lifestyle is to do things that bring you joy. I have found that people have many different passions, or many different hobbies. It always amazes me the diversity of things that people are passionate about. Maybe the most important word is passion. I can talk with anyone for hours about their passions. If they are passionate about anything, I love talking with them. My brother in law has become passionate about archery. He now has many different bows. He even makes bows himself. He reads about bows and shooting. There are books about the philosophy of shooting and on an on. With any passion or hobby, there are websites, groups, meetups, magazines, and layers of distinctions to learn. There isn’t time to do everything, so people choose hobbies that give them joy. What I want to do is to encourage doing more of it. And, potentially to take it to the next level.
For example, if you love basketball, maybe endeavor to watch a game from courtside. If you are a fan of a musician, maybe save to get fantastic seats at a pending concert. If your passion is mountain bike riding, schedule a trip to a special place to go mountain biking with a group of friends. If you are passionate about hiking, look to see if there is a vacation hiking from village to village somewhere you would like to travel to.
Our days are numbered, and nobody is guaranteed tomorrow. So, if you have a particular passion, get after it!
Recently, I was having lunch with a friend, and I found out that he and his partner are “birders”. They enjoy observing and identifying wild birds in the habitats. They are on distribution lists with other birders and if someone sees a rare bird, they are notified via the app/distribution list, and they will head to that part of the county to look for the bird. While doing that, they see parts of the county and find trails and areas that they would never know about. And, they run into other birders and find new friends and relationships with people who have similar interests. Apparently there are approximately 400 different species of birds in Santa Cruz County, and they have seen in the mid 230’s of them, and now adding even one more at a time is a bit of a challenge.
During the conversation he asked me if I had ever seen the movie, “The Big Year”, which happens to be about three avid bird watchers, and has a cast including Owen Wilson, Jack Black and Steve Martin. It is a quirky film but we really enjoyed it. Like I said, I can talk with anyone about anything that they are passionate about.
Today, I leave to participate in one of my biggest passions, powder skiing. I will be spending one week in Blue River, BC Canada in the Monashee and Cariboo mountains helicopter skiing with Mike Wiegele Heli-Skiing. One fabulous week of never ending joy. Cheers and QTR! Go out and do more of what brings you joy!
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