Is it a matter of choice or a victim of circumstances?

"To make money we lose our health, and then to restore our health we lose our money..."

We need money to maintain a certain standard of living which we are accustomed to. It is relative and subjective... what is considered good by one person is likely to be sneered at by another.

Being a natural worrier (not warrior!) I shy away from committing myself to responsibilities which might cause me sleepless nights. Again, this is relative because what worries me is likely to be considered 'nothing to be worried about' by another. But who knows it better than myself?

Going by my family history, my eldest brother was known for being 'happy-go-lucky' and yet he died at the age of 51. My second brother thrived on challenges and could handle all kinds of problems. When he was dying, he was asking for 'cheque book and rubber stamp' to sign cheques. He died at 60. Going by logic, and being youngest, I should be able to live up to 100! There was apparently no difference in terms of whether they chose to take it easy or take up challenges.

But one thing I can be sure is that I would look much older for my age if I were to take on what others consider as normal workload. I think there is a difference between the type of work we do, like for example, in public relations (assuming one is an extrovert, otherwise it could be a nightmare), there is no paper trail like in accounting or administration which could haunt you for years later if there had been fraud, collusion or just mere negligence. The problem would not go away unless sorted out and there are penalties for not meeting legal datelines.

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that there are many examples of people who lamented that they wish they could turn back the clock and chose a different course of actions for various reasons. One of which is having missed out on the time spent when the kids were growing up. Another is the result of insufficient sleep over the years causing eye bags and crow feet which now require botox treatment.

To me, the bottom line is to choose what suits you best, regardless of what others think or say, because you should know your capabilities and limitations, likes and dislikes, as well as how you deal with many other aspects of life which you experience everyday.

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