What is valuable to me?

Last post, I talked about uncertainty. I still have much of this uncertainty: from simple uncertainties, such as what to eat for dinner (an argument that is a nightly occurrence in my household), to more significant uncertainties, such as how to best save/use the money I earned working over the summer.

For those of you who do not know, I've worked as a lifeguard for the past two years at Westgate Cabana Club in Campbell. I took the certification classes in April of 2010 (which reminds me, I'm going to have to recertify, or recert, before next season). So far, I've put the money earned from this towards two bicycles (collectively, a quadsicle?). as well as funds for food and fun with friends. That's a bit of a tongue twister. Bonus points for alliteration?

Working as a lifeguard has taught me to be responsible, and it has given me experience dealing with patrons (no, sir, I'm sorry but you may not drink your beer in the deep end, and that glass bottle needs to be rid of). Additionally, working for my own pay check has taught me the value of my own work and the work of others, such as my parents. For a while, I was thinking about meals and other purchased items in terms of hours spent at the pool. It really shows what a simple $50 bill at the grocery store means - It equates to just over 5.42 hours working at the pool, after taxes. That's about a full day of my work just to put the food on the table; a full day of time is valuable.

So yeah, short - term time like that is important to me, as it equates to money and money equates to, well, itself. While wealth may not be necessary to life, it certainly increases ease of it.

But what's also important to me, also time related, is my youth. In AP Bio the other day, I saw two pictures. One was a scan of the fat, muscle, and bone content of an 80 year old man's leg. The other was the same scan of a triathlete of the same age. The leg of the triathlete was considerably thicker than that of the regular man. He had two to three times the amount of muscle content in his quadriceps, and his bones were thicker and healthier.

My health is important to me. What would be the point of having all the wealth in the world, yet be extremely unhealthy and bound to die soon?

They say life is short: The sad thing is that life is literally the longest thing that any of us will ever know. I believe that we must make the most out of every second. Go out of your way to make someone smile. Hell, go out of your way to make yourself smile. When's the last time you've regretted being happy?

I guess the way that this relates to the topic of this blog, is that whatever I do with my life, must be fiscally smart, but I also must have the ability to take care of myself and enjoy what I do. It brings to mind a Dalai Lama quote: when asked about what surprised him most in humanity he responded,

"Man.
Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices his money to recuperate his health.
And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present;
the result being that he does not live in the present or the future;
he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived."

I want to really live. I want to experience life as much as I can, and while I am still able to. I want to....

Live a little!

(okay, someone had to have seen that coming...)