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Happiness is Not So Much a Goal as Being at Peace
Being content and at peace with your life trumps sheer happiness.
Happiness is somewhat overrated. I prefer to strive for being content and at peace. I’m not saying this just because I watched REVIEW last night as the character Forrest MacNeil had to review what being relentlessly happy all of the time is like. In case you’re wondering, he gave “happiness” 3 stars out of 5 stars, and in my opinion, after what he went through, he was generous. I’m saying this because happiness is often equated to giddiness and joy, and it’s short lived. Being calm and at peace with your life is long term.
People say I am way too cheerful, especially in the morning, and I possess endless amounts of energy. I started out purposely being cheerful in the morning as a way to annoy my family and it just sorta stuck. Given a choice of moping about, dragging my feet, shoulders slumped, stumbling through the house grumbling, I tend instead to lean into the anticipation of the day. That’s something to be excited about, a fresh day of hell and new beginnings.
Besides, I have much to be grateful for today. For starters, I got rid of the horrible website company in Oklahoma last week that messed up my website so terribly and overcharged. I realized my sanity could not take one more day and immediately fired them. This was after the owner threatened to hold my website hostage. He refused to release it back to my host because he knew it would not function because his team, which I think consists solely of his son in Texas, coded it incorrectly. That was a fairly stressful time. Within a few days of firing them, my website guy, who is local, fixed almost everything, and it’s working great. Lesson learned here is do not hire a website company out of state.
I have two listings coming up next week that I am very excited to represent. One is a condo in West Sacramento and the other is a duplex in Carmichael. And I am working on selling a home in Elk Grove, which is held open today, along with another home in West Sacramento, that is also open today. My Sacramento real estate priorities are focused.
The icing on the cake for me is a Mediterranean cruise we just booked for after next summer on the Regent Seven Seas. The staterooms are suites, around 300 square feet with balconies. You can dine whenever you want, no designated seating. There is a spa on the ship. It’s not one of those super-sized Disneyland cruises, our ship is much smaller, and we hit all the fabulous European ports. Ever since I was a kid, I have yearned to experience a luxury Mediterranean cruise. We will also spend about 5 days on the front end in Barcelona, in my book the most glamorous and exciting city in Spain. It’s an incredible journey to look forward to.
My husband and I could have saved this excursion for when I retire from real estate, but that’s still so far off, it makes a lot more sense to simply enjoy life now and not stuff our desired adventures into a bucket list. People who say they will do this or do that when they retire might never get there. Life has a way of interrupting our plans. Life is short. Then it’s over. The late Harry Chapin said: it’s got to be the going not the getting there that’s good.
Comparing Peeple to the TV show REVIEW
Reviewing people for Peeple reviews is nothing like the Comedy Central show REVIEW
Ten years ago I was kicked off a then-popular website for criticizing the way its management treated my friends. Today, that would be akin to being banned from Twitter and would never happen. Things change so quickly in the internet world. Sometimes you just can’t believe your eyes about what unfolds in front of you. Take for example the new website Peeple that is being marketed as “like Yelp for human beings.” I read about that site and thought WTH, are we living in the UK?
This is a new website launching shortly that professes to provide a platform for people to “review” not just their pizza delivery guy but their friends, arch-enemies, neighbors, the asshole who cut them off in traffic, coworkers, ex-boyfriends / girlfriends . . .. It raises the possibility of extreme raunchiness, vindictiveness and overall incredible stupidity affecting your life more than shows you don’t watch on Reality TV do now.
It would seem that if you do not sign up for that website, nobody can post anything negative about you. So right there the dilemma for a normal, rational human being is completely solved. Yet you know people will crawl over to that site just out of curiosity and before you know it, wham, they’ll sign up, because people are idiots.
Think what this will do to real estate agents because the 2 things a subscriber needs to post a review is the person’s name and phone number. Who has their name and phone number plastered everywhere? Real estate agents. Any deadbeat who plops his butt on the face of a real estate agent wrapped on a bus bench, say, in East Sacramento, can whip out a cellphone and, because the bus is late, say something nasty about the agent.
Now, Peeple reviews is nothing like REVIEW the wild show on Comedy Central that is so darkly hilarious. Most review shows are about books, movies or food. This show is about life experiences. The host, who sort of dresses like a Century 21 agent from the 1970s is like Superman’s Clark Kent, a mild mannered dude oozing with sincerity from southern California who accepts challenges contributed from viewers to experience life events and report on what it’s like.
The reviewer gives 1/2 to 6 stars for things such as: What’s it like to get kicked in the balls? Or what’s it like to be buried alive? What’s it like to sleep with your teacher? Burning questions that all of us must wonder about at one time or another. Except when the character Forrest MacNeil (Andy Daly) tries so earnestly to perform his job, he continually messes up his own personal life. This is an excellent show: REVIEW. Peeple is just plain creepy.
