When I was a full time worker my life was constrained by what was happening with the company. Whether it was winter or summer my biggest concerns were the same. How was the billion dollar manufacturing facility I managed performing? What were our profit margins? Were we on budget? Were we keeping all seven hundred of our people safe and what extra help did they need to succeed in their roles? Was my CEO in a good mood or a bad mood? Generally it wasn’t the first choice on that last one. But that changed when I went from a forty-eight hour a week corporate officer to an eight hour a week consultant, and now to a one hour a week one.
Overnight, in the course of a single day, my life became constrained by my own choices of how to spend my time. It is hard to get how that feels across to those of you still working 9 to 5 jobs. It is difficult to break out of the rigid mind set that filters every possible opportunity to have an experience through the rigidity of the corporate Microsoft Outlook Calendar. I still use that calendar, but now there aren’t 20 meetings prescheduled each week. There aren’t trips to headquarters to present dog and pony shows to the C-suite brass. Now my Outlook calendar is full of fun stuff! The rest of this month, for instance, has a trip to close the purchase of the side of a mountain we are buying in the wilderness area of North Arkansas, plus some hiking in the area, and later, a road trip to hike Big Bend National Park for a week. It has a weekend at the horse races with several other couples to watch one of their horses race and a couple of days presenting testimony as an expert witness. I’ve got a haircut, a possible ski trip to Colorado and a couple of volunteer team meetings with good friends. And a backup plan to go spring bass fishing if the ski trip falls through. As I pondered my busy short term future it started me thinking about how my life is now more controlled by the seasons than it is by anything else.
Many of our the things we enjoy are year round pursuits. Its never too hot or too cold to run. It rarely gets too cold for outdoor tennis or pickleball. We can ride trails in our Polaris RZR sport side by side during any season. But some of our favorite hobbies are seasonal. Winter, where we are right now, offers us our favorite hiking season. No biting insects or snakes, less poison ivy and more comfortable temperatures for the extreme physical nature of bushwhacking, all make outdoor exploring on foot a winter sport in Arkansas. We’ll take our hiking gear on the road later this month to Big Bend national park in South Texas because its so much more fun to hike in cool weather. We’ve already hiked all over Arkansas this winter and will also be doing some of that later this week up in the area where we hope to build our cabin. And of course winter is ski time. I’m trying to set up a trip with an old friend, maybe two trips, in March. That’s not technically winter here, but it is in Colorado.
Spring is a great change after playing freezing tennis all winter. We can still squeeze in a hike in early spring or hike out west at elevation but hiking is pretty much over in Arkansas. But what comes into its own is spring bass fishing. We catch and release spawning giant bass and it is my favorite single thing to do outdoors, by a wide margin. I’ve spent my lifetime bass fishing and most of the year pales compared to the spring spawn action. Tennis and running become more comfortable and, of course, there is always pickleball. Team tennis matches begin to be scheduled and that is fun because you get to play with new people. There is also March Madness, if the Hogs basketballers are still in play. They made it to the great 8 last year and there is a good chance they’ll go deep again this year.
Summer gets hot around here. You can forget about hiking unless you want to make a blood donation to the biting insects. Tennis also gets a little painful when it is 104 deg F in the shade. And that would be if there was any shade on the outdoor concrete courts, which there isn’t. But we shoulder through it and keep playing no matter how hot it gets. Same for our morning runs, they get tough but running isn’t supposed to be easy. Its a good time for a long road trip to a cooler climate. We’ve made 3,500 mile ones out west hiking high elevation trails where there is snow on the ground year round. Or we’ve scheduled hiking adventures in Switzerland for summer months. We even skied one time in August in Chile. Closer to home there is trout fishing on the Arkansas tail water rivers where the water stays icy cold all summer. You actually need a jacket in the mornings when you are out on those rivers. My wife makes a couple of girl trips to the redneck Riviera (Gulf Shores, AL) with her old college buddies. Bass fishing gets a little slower, but if you can catch a day when it rains, without a lot of lightning, you can sometimes find the fish feeding.
Then we end up the seasons with fall. Usually there are road races available, my wife still sometimes tackles a marathon in her mid sixties or a half marathon. I’m firmly retired from racing. But it is a good time to meet up with our Texas RZR riding friends to do some trails. We also do some hiking out west and sometimes take the side by side out there too. Fishing picks up in the early fall on cloudy days. Usually it is still too hot to hike in our state. Tennis and pickleball become much more fun with more moderate temperatures. Team tennis picks back up. There is no snow out west, so ski season has not yet started. College football season kicks off and that has been fun for the first time in a long time for Razorback fans.
I left out the paid work and volunteer work I do. It is season independent since its an indoor activity. There is quite a bit of it, but the thing about volunteer work is nobody gets in your face and chews you out about your performance. Especially if you are chairing the board that hires the paid CEO that runs the place. If I have a conflict between a college board meeting and a ski trip which do you think is going to get squeezed out? I’ll either zoom in from the ski condo or let the rest of the directors figure it out. They are great people who will hardly miss my input. The strength of boards rests in their diversity and the chair position is mostly just a moderator there to insure everyone gets to share their thoughts. There are a few rare times when I have to bend my schedule to get something important done as a volunteer, and that is OK, because it is important work. Same for my expert witness work or occasional consulting gigs. It might conflict out something fun two or three days a year. But that leaves me 362 days with no conflicts, so no problem there.
I like life lived by the seasons. It keeps things fresh to have something unique to do that depends on the time of year. At this point I’m just about ready to say goodby to winter. We’ve had some great hikes with a couple more to do before we are done. I really hope to get to go skiing with my friends before ski season is over. But I can already imagine that monster bass hitting my bait in a few weeks. And like most things in life anticipation is half the fun. I’m also ready for team tennis to start up. I’m glad we live in a place that has four seasons because it adds variety to our lives.
What about you, do the seasons each bring a different kind of enjoyment to your days, or do you have some seasonal unhappiness during the dark cold winter months?
If you live in someplace that doesn’t have big weather shifts with the calendar, like Hawaii, Southern Florida or Southern California, do you miss seasonal changes? Or are you fine without the snow and biting cold temperatures?
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In my part of the world, after the rainy monsoon season, there comes a season we call ‘Sharat’. Sharat is a subset of Autumn. During Sharat (Sep-Oct)), the sky is a shiny shade of blue, the clouds are milky white. There is a ten-day-long festival of a goddess(Durga), and that festival/carnival adds an extra layer of joy. So yes, the season of Sharat adds a dose of seasonal happiness to my life.
Sounds fun to have an extra season with a long festival! Thanks for sharing that.
Nice. Like you, I’d much rather be constrained by Mother Nature than by a boss, job, or corporate calendar!
I’m not surprised fifo, there are always some constraints in life but job impose a lot of arbitrary ones.
The climate is mild here on the west coast and we get nice weather throughout the year. This fits me because I prefer predictability and no changes or surprises.
I used to live in a place where we get cold winters for 1/3 of the year. I don’t miss that, haha.
I’m amazed at how fit your wife is at her age. Even half marathons take a lot of work and preparation. I learned not to donate money to charities that organize marathons. They would always take your money and run. 🙂
My wife is amazing, I used to be faster and would run marathons with her as her coach. Alas, I haven’t held up as well as she has! We are playing doubles today, she can probably beat me at singles tennis now but I’m not that interested in finding out. I kind of like having the four seasons. If it was always warm here the bugs would carry us away!
I could never live in a mono-season place like Hawaii or Southern Florida. To me the seasons are what make life joyous And I’m jealous of your Big Bend trip, I’ve been to virtually every major national park in the country except for Big Bend. I really hope to get there someday
Dave, it is a long way from anywhere! We are looking forward to it. I was surprised we found a decent place to stay in Marathon the first night and then in Terlingua the next three nights. There are very few places to stay and the campsites stay pretty booked. It has been on our list for awhile.
steve is finally going to make it to the horse races! oaklawn park i presume? if you need any help handicapping the card that day let me know. i’m a decent handicapper. have fun!
Freddy, yes Oaklawn. What is really weird is my wife grew up less than fifty miles from the track and has never been either. We are going to be with several couples who have houses there and who are experienced so they should be able to tutor us. I have no idea how to bet or what the combination bets are. I don’t really enjoy wagering much, its a negative sum game and that does not appeal to my statistical engineering background. But these are the same guys I go on guys trips to Cardinals MLB and Saints NFL games with so it should be fun. Wives included this time.
Living above the 49th parallel it’s the wintry darkness that kills me – going to work in the dark, coming home in the dark, complete nesting weather. The summer light is like a rejuvenating drug, energizing me to go do everything. It was super strange to visit Ecuador where it got dark around 6 in the evening despite the lovely weather.
Caro, you are a special case! That much cold and dark could get anyone down unless ice fishing and snowmobiling are your fave things.
Reading about your year makes me want to retire haha!
I am also amazed at your wife’s marathon running fitness.
I did my first half marathon (and only) at age 30, I am thinking I will try a full marathon at age 40. By then my kids will both be in school and I’ll have a mini-retirement from parenting all day, haha.
Gym, I did my first marathon at 46, did 14 more after that. My knees don’t like long mileage at 66 so I run shorter distances. But I still get some exercise, ran 4 miles at 5:30AM today, then played two hours of pickleball at 9AM and will play tennis singles at 1:30PM.
Agreed, hiking in winter is so much better. No bugs, no poison and no leaves on the trees so you can see the views. In summer I switch to biking, the breeze cools me down as I zoom along.
Wallies, that sounds like a great plan. We major on tennis and fishing in warm weather.
Love it! I also live life by the seasons now, and also as a result of living in Arizona. But with kids, we also now have the constraint of the school schedule and all that too. But it is the same. I play more golf in the summer when the prices come down, but it is first thing in the morning. Then do more hiking in the winter when the air is cool and crisp and there isn’t a risk of dehydration. Then the spring we get out and chase cactus blooms and the fall is our busy season full of anniversaries, holidays, etc. Of course, now our travel season is constrained to the kids schedule, and we have about 12 more years of that. Heh!
AR, I know the drill having raised three kids ourselves. But its so worth it even if it does make planning anything a major event! We love the Western states.
I have a small garden, so I definitely experience the seasonality quite strongly.
There is planting time for the spring bulbs during fall, then the time when the first flowers appear (right about now), a changeover during may where the bulbs i move the into storage and I start to plant the fruits and vegetables instead. As those grow, eventually we get into harvest season, which is finally followed again by preparing the garden for winter and planting the bulbs.
My hobbies also follow a seasonal pattern. Right about now, I find it is the best weather to go for walks or hikes. It is still cold, but mostly sunny. After that, cycling season starts, and I will spend a lot of time on my beloved bike. During summer, I’m more keen on stand up paddling as it gets too hot for long distance cycling. During autumn I switch again to more cycling, and eventually football season starts. Over the winter, I mostly watch sports on television while exercising on my indoor bike.
When I lived in Asia, there were virtually no seasons. While I enjoyed the stable good weather, it is also really nice to have some variation again.
Eventually, I think it would be nice to have my work be more seasonal too. More work during cold, dark winter days, less during the summer. Maybe some day I’ll manage to set that up 😀
LadyFIRE, that’s a lovely comment. You do have the seasons optimized. I’ve tried stand up paddling one time, it confirmed what I’ve always known, I have the intrinsic balance of a drunken sailor. But it was fun just the same. It would be nice if we could do our work on days too yucky to do anything fun on!
Thanks for the reply Steve!
Actually standing up when stand up paddling can take some practice, but you can also do it sitting down or kneeling at first to get more comfortable. I’d also recommend trying on smaller lakes without boats / waves to get used to it.
I find that it’s both good exercise as well as well as very relaxing. Maybe give it another go?
This resonates with me:
“But that changed when I went from a forty-eight hour a week corporate officer to an eight hour a week consultant, and now to a one hour a week one.”
Thanks DD!