Making Ant Hills

The view from my seat is…ants. No, not “ants in the pants” (sheesh). It’s us…American people and how we resemble ants. Busy, busy, busy. Travelling to and fro. Carrying important “stuff”. No time to stop. Hurry, hurry. Must build the house, must decorate, must work, must do more, more, more! And then someone will step on the anthill, or it will rain and flood the hill out, and what do we have? A mess.

I think of the Frank Sinatra oldie “High Hopes” – anybody else remember it? Here’s the ant sample –

Just what makes that little old ant

Think he’ll move that rubber tree plant

Anyone knows an ant, can’t

Move a rubber tree plant

But he’s got high hopes, he’s got high hopes

He’s got high apple pie, in the sky hopes

So any time your getting’ low

Instead of lettin’ go

Just remember that ant…

Oops there goes another rubber tree plant

My questions: Did the rubber tree plant need to be moved, or did the ant just think that’s what needed to be done? What would have happened if the ant hadn’t moved the rubber tree? What if the ant had made a date for a cup of coffee with another ant instead? Or gone for a walk in the country? Or played hide-and-go-seek with a little ant? Nooooooo…we all take great pride in that lil’ ol’ any moving that rubber tree plant. And Frank encourages us to be like the ant…have high hopes and aspire to do what can’t be done.

How and when will we break out of this?! Are we really better off? I vote NO! Let’s let the rubber tree plants stay where they are and make time for each other! Time for conversation, reading, playing, enjoying life, time for JOY!

So, I am willing to start the revolution, if you’ll join me.

We can call it…hmmm…what’s a good name? How about:

• Let’s Try Enjoying Life (LTEL)? Not snappy enough?
• OK: TINTED (Time Is Not The Enemy Dummy)? Personally, I like that one, but some may think it offensive.
• INA (I’m No Ant)?
• BREAK (Be Real, Enjoy, be Attentive, Connect)? There – I think that’s it. Operation BREAK.

The first part of Operation BREAK is data collection:
Step one: Make a list of the top 5 things that are really, really important to you. Not what you think SHOULD be important to you… no one but you is going to see this.

Step two: Make a list of the top 5 things you would do if you won 55 million dollars in the lottery. Won it TONIGHT. What would you do first tomorrow? If you say “Quit my job” that’s fine, but what will you replace that job with? Does what you would do, if you could, reflect what you say is really, really important to you? If not maybe you need to re-evaluate what you say is important. It’s OK, we’ll wait. (tap, tap, tap, sigh)

Step three: Bank balance and calendar audit. Take a look at your bank statement (online or on paper, doesn’t matter) and your day planner. Does where you expend your money and time match what is really, really important to you?

Yes, it IS cheating if your job didn’t make the top 5 and you justify time over 40 hours per week (or whatever percentage of full time that you work) as “being for the good of one or more of the top 5”.

Step four: Consider this – what in your life is really a NEED? How much time and effort goes into acquiring, maintaining, and (possibly) upgrading WANTS? Just consider – think about it without judgement. This is just data collection.

Step five: Over the next week note your reaction when one of these things happens:

1. The phone rings as you are engaged in something.
2. A co-worker stops by your office (cubicle) to talk with you about a non-work related topic.
3. You run into a friend, or someone you haven’t seen in a long while, as you are shopping, pumping gas, or involved in some other essential activity.
4. Your offspring asks you to do something for them.

Think about this stuff, watch some ants, see if you’ve got rubber tree plants that you are rearranging, and let’s talk more about this view … later.