The only joy in the world
is to begin.
Cesare Paves
The only joy in the world is to begin.
How true.
To start. To create. To launch and to originate.
To make. To fashion. Style. Jump. Leap. Lead. Generate. Help and to inspire.
To instigate. To initiate. To begin.
To begin.
To once and for all, begin.
To be who we are meant to be.
Look how many synonyms there are to show us where joy hides. She hides in work.
So, let me ask you bluntly.
How many more years of your life will it take for you to start shoveling? For you to share your talents with us, even if it’s only one stubborn shovelful at a time?
There is something mystical and most dignified in human work. In callused hands. In scars and bruises.
Our ability to find meaningful work is a most misunderstood human right.
An unsung human right.
A right that most people have learned to despise and hate. To complain about in coffee shops, and during time of rest and relaxation. It has become a divine rite of passage to complain about the work we do, but none of it really makes any sense.
How can something so important to our lives, be so distant and misunderstood?
Maybe we are doing the wrong type of work? Maybe we are busy doing, when we should be being?
Maybe we are stuck? Perhaps we are spending the best hours of our day, turning out meaningless trinkets and distracting widgets, at the expense of our happiness?
Maybe we should stop and think about how we spend our day.
Our time.
Our life.
The only joy in the world is to begin.
That’s true. But don’t wait too long.
Don’t let the pricking sting of this humble reflection turn to waste.
Take a deep breath.
And begin.
