Never Missing a Chance to Do Something

Letting Oneself Run Away With Desires (An Update)

What is this, you ask? An American “Freakshake”, one of the most alluring desires ever designed by man. An Oreo shake in a chocolate-encrusted glass, topped with an Oreo cake. Carnegie Diner in New York, 2026.

[Author’s Note: Last week we revisited thoughts on my direction from December 2024 through the prism of Zhuangzi’s observation that people seldom stop, look about, and ask that most basic of questions – “why?” While not required reading, the older article can be found here.]

If you were with me last week, you will know that taking a step back, from time to time, helps us lift our head from our hectic humming along.

We all have goals, things we want to do, dreams at the very least. Unless we rise above our toils, how do we know our effort continues to point in the desired direction? More important, and more chilling, is that aim still where we want to go? That we are never truly settled in this, knowing our conviction or where we are on the path, is something I’m yet to get comfortable with.

This article was set as a Draft a few months ago, and funny how things play out, I guess I am in a slump. Creeping up on me has been this sense that, while busy every day, the reason to do the thing has slowly evolved into there is a thing here to be done. Sounds like a crisis of confidence, and I guess that is what it is.

At least we are not alone. We are being observed, you and I, by Zhuangzi himself. Sitting on the riverbank, watching the leaves of Fall float by on the lazy current, only stirring himself to repeatedly decline official posts (take the hint guys!). He took the extra time to deliver in handy list format, all the types and traps humanity loves to trip into.

The clever man is unhappy when he is not thinking of new ideas.

The eloquent man is unhappy when he is not leading a discussion.

The able man is not happy when he is not dealing with difficulties.

The saviour of his country wants to make his country strong.

The middle-class scholar wants to obtain official honor.

The brave fighter wants to show off his prowess in an emergency.

The brave man wants to volunteer himself in trouble.

The soldier loves fighting. The retired scholar loves fame.

The farmer is not happy when he is not tilling his field.

The merchant is not happy when he is not making transactions.

The common man busies himself when he has something to do in the spare hours of the morning and evening, the artisan feels good when he is working with his tools.

When wealth is not hoarded, then the greedy rich is depressed; when he does not reach a position of power, the self-important man is disappointed.

These students of human affairs watch with happiness the changing of circumstances and the arrival of opportunity, and whenever they can do something, have a chance to do something, they cannot sit still. And so all these people follow their routine year in, year out, submerged in their own affairs, and cannot get out. They let their bodily desires run away with them and get tangled up in the thousand and one affairs until they die. Alas!

If that “Alas!” doesn’t get you, then you’ve a hard heart.

A year and a half back, I was considering my past career and ticking off the personas: the clever man, an able man, the self-important. Not the greedy rich, unfortunately, and not the soldier, thankfully.

Now here I am, the common man with little but spare hours and a mind conditioned to crisis. Well, I asked myself, if the crisis won’t come to me perhaps I need to make one for myself!

My question and concern at that time was, am I building to a crisis on my own? Is my nature just to be busy at all costs, finding fleeting happiness in the changing of circumstances and doing something, anything, just to avoid sitting still?

You know what my stumbling block was, and is? Thinking is hard work, and pausing to do some thinking doesn’t easily occur to the person who likes to be submerged in his own affairs. Of all people, I should know the toll. My career, which started as described, was no accident. Nothing unintentional about it on my part. Here was my best chance to build independence and financial freedom. Harnessing that chance to do something and not sit still worked a treat except for one thing. The routines slowly take us over.

What does hunger for recognition, valuing honors, and needing battles to fight have in common? All require others to be realized. Whatever happened to independence and freedom? Submerged in my own affairs, plowing ahead, my eyes firmly closed. By the end, I was standing on the deck of the Titanic pretending to steer but having no wheel, no authority, and no influence over the iceberg dead ahead, I fought to the last to “achieve” something that could never have been saved. And that independence and financial freedom? I already had it, had it years before.

I used five years to reach December 6, 2024, before I could look at Zhuangzi’s List and say with some confidence that lessons were learned. Having gotten out, I was forging a new path. Armed with experience, I would manage my affairs better.

So here I sit looking at my keyboard and wondering what to say. I worry about how many articles can be written this week, what the subscriber count is, and notice how many drafts are waiting before the next trip. The next trip that will be spent thinking too much about the best pictures and notes, and not enough taking real quality time with the lovely people who are with me. Taking the time to listen to them while juggling all these make-work concerns is like dying. Alas!

Work remains to be done. Listening to and valuing my partner, my family, and respecting my time and the purpose I’ve dedicated to it. We will look back a year from now and see how we have done.

[Author’s Note: Thank you for taking the time to visit. All pictures were taken by the author or family member, unless otherwise noted.]