I'm nearly 40 and the hardest working person I've ever known is my dad.
Born in the 50s, he got an Associates in engineering and wound up working in the trucking industry. Ma had healthy problems, him, the sole provider. He would work constantly because it was the only way to make ends meet. He was also a union steward, served on greivance boards and fought tooth and nail to protect his colleagues from corporate bullshizz. He worked tirelessly, to support his family and to protect his people. He didn't really take vacations, didn't spend frivolously and work was the way he viewed his value in the world.
By the time he turned 60 in 2015, he was still putting in 70ish hours a week on the road. One week after that milestone, he was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. He fought 10 long months before he just couldn't keep going and he passed two months before he turned 61.
His motto was “Ya do what ya gotta do, till you get to the point where you can do what you wanna do.” And it's true to an extent, but I'm here to tell you … don't wait to do what you wanna do. He never got to because he was SO busy working. He joked his retirement dream was to be a beach bum running a tiki bar. He would have absolutely crushed it! But he never got the chance. He worked that hard all his life … only to never truly enjoy the fruits of his labor.
His death changed me in many, many ways. But first and foremost, this former workaholic realized – why waste all your time and energy working for a future that's not even guaranteed to exist?
So he's not here to share his thoughts, but after many of our talks while he was sick, I'll share it for him… don't work your lives away. Do what ya gotta do to pay those bills…but whenever and wherever possible, do what you WANNA do, too. Take the PTO, don't work hours you aren't paid for, tend to your friends and family, look out for YOU. But… while you are working, don't take any shit from The Man.