Trying to do the right thing

Life is full of twists and turns, and I seem to have gotten struck somewhere around a bend...

In my business I hunt dragons on a regular basis, in order to bring in an income.  For those who don’t know, dragons in my world are metaphorical business problems requiring resolution. Sometimes I am the Knight who gets to solve problems for business and pick up a cheque for my efforts. The last few months have been tough, the dragons seem to have emigrated, leaving me with little income generating work.

Ironically, I have more irons in the fire than ever before, meaning the future is filled with possibilities. Although when these possibilities will mature is anyone’s guess.

With little to no distress calls, time has been plentiful. It is hard to look at a lack of business as a gift, but this is precisely what it has been. My challenge has been to use it wisely! Luckily a broken finger and the mending of a torn foot ligament have cut surfing out of the picture, which may have caused me to be rather wasteful of this gift. Instead my community projects seemed to come alive, sucking every spare minute I have had. I know the time is all well spent, but I have not been able to stop the internal mental debate.

Instead of ‘wasting’ my time on non income generating activities, I probably should have been doing something to grow my business. A little clever marketing would not have gone amiss. Any business person would have known this! Yet it seemed as if so many other good causes had needs so much greater than my petty business growth issues. Having been blessed with time, it would have been far more wasteful to have not used it on something good for others. Or so the debate in my head has raged...

 Doing the right thing for my fellow man has left me with a little gap to fill on the income side of my income statement. A concern one has to face up to at some time! It did cross my mind that my joyous journey had possibly come to an end. Perhaps it was time to consider a corporate job and shred the book I have recently and painfully completed. Or was it time to get a job in an organisation aimed at the upliftment of others? Something I could champion into the future, merging my skills and passions for good. Then again, if I can only hang in for a little bit longer, I might be able to create an organisation for good or find one of my many irons in the fire exploding into life!

One thing I have learnt is that these projects which pay nothing are the most rewarding I have ever attempted. They have also provided great lessons in humility and compassion, both of which do not pay the bills, but will certainly shape me into a better man.

It has been a tough period in life but one buoyed by the archaic idea that if I am doing the right thing, God will provide. And so he has, but perhaps not in the way I expected!