Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Floral Book Review: "The Happiness of Pursuit" by Chris Guillebeau


I spent most of my life restless.

Looking for an adventure.

Looking for a quest.

And then I re-opened Robson's Farm.

Now I just spend most of my life exhausted....

But happy!

Something that was most interesting to me is that most of the examples in Guillebeau's book became quests.  He for example lived in Africa and started traveling to various neighboring countries. And then a few more countries and a few more and then it became his quest to visit every single country in the world.

"Happiness of Pursuit" Floral Book Review


Many people in his book started a project, an adventure, an activity and it turned into a full fledged quest.

I love traveling and have a quest to visit all 50 states. I have a map that I color in as I visit each state.  I want to see my own country before I see the vast countries of others. Oh and I have a rule that I must be a least passable in the language before I visit those outside countries.

Guillebeau writes about the Adventure Savings Fund:
"To go anywhere, save $2 a day" - this was the headline for a group project I hosted on my blog. The concept is that there is nowhere in the world you can't visit if you save even a small amount of money over time."

He goes over making a budget and assessing the costs and forming a plan....which I wholeheartedly admit that I am a loose planner and more of a doer, goer, "oh shit should have had a better planner."

The savings plans he shows break down as follows....
" $25/day = $9,125/year
$10/day = $3,650/year
$5/day = $1,825/year
$2/day = $730/year"

I'd like to offer what I have been doing since I started the farm....

Every time someone pays be in a large bill, $50 or $100 I put it away for my "winter time adventures." I use this money to travel or take a class.  Past classes include many floral design classes, calligraphy, sewing, and photography.

I am drawn with envy to those hyper disciplined folks and have vowed to harness my wandering Pieces slightly adult ADD self into more focus and discipline.  Guillebeau writes about a guy finishes the entire 4 year MIT computer science program in 1 very disciplined and focused year.

He also mentions my favorite 1 year challenge of all time which is now one of my favorite movies, Julie and Julia which is about Julie Powell and the queen of the kitchen herself, Julia Child.  Rent the movie people!   

I dearly love creative quests and traveling quests. However I think my biggest soft spot is for "cause" quests.

Guillebeau opens chapter twelve with, "Find what troubles you about the world, then fix it for the rest of us."

He tells the story of Stephanie Zito who, "for an entire year, every day she'd learn about a new person, project, or organization that was making the world a better place. She'd also make a $10 donation toward the cause, and whenever possible, write about what happned with the money. She called the project #Give10."

This snowballed and others were creating their own giving challenges.

Quests are contagious.

We see others out there with either their literal or figerative bookbag packed and we want a piece of the pie.

What's your quest.

Or even better question....what's your next quest.

Just because we finish one it doesn't mean it's the end. It means it's that incredible moment of freedom where we take a breath and take that first stride onward. Off to the next.

Hoping your "bags" are packed and ready.




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