Sunday ☕ : The Gift of the Present

Startled, I wake up to the blare of car horns and the rush of high-speed traffic, only to realize that I’m in a roadside motel somewhere between Austin and upstate New York. Disoriented, I have no clue about my exact location. It was late at night when we arrived, and exhaustion pushed us to settle for the first available place. All I remember is blinking neon signs and a ’50s-throwback feeling. As the sun timidly rises, I prepare to brew some weak coffee using the small machine that holds only two paper cups’ worth. Then I head to the old diner across the street, and embark on another day of driving.
Driving isn’t too tough. It’s almost cathartic. And the hope of arriving in the Adirondack Mountains makes me want to press on. I think we’re just another day away from our summer camp. Upon arrival, we will unload our dogs and all the summer essentials we bring every year, ferrying them across the lake and settling in.

By Boat Only

When my wife initially suggested experiencing island life, I wasn’t convinced I would enjoy it. The idea of relying on boats to transport every single building material, every piece of furniture, and even every morsel of food seemed daunting. No deliveries, no mail, no packages arriving without a boat trip, and life doesn't pause for thunderstorms. If you have somewhere to be, you don your rain jacket, seek shelter under the boat’s canopy, and brave the downpour while racing against the raindrops that prick your face like pins. Yet I wouldn’t trade this lifestyle for anything. Despite its inconveniences, it instills a sense of planning, discipline, and above all, tranquility.

Hello Silence, My Old Friend

There is an absence of the noise of life … distant roads or highways, the grind of semi-trucks, honking horns, and city life. Instead the sounds of silence envelop our island, where the only things to be heard are the whispering of trees in the wind, the ethereal call of the returning loons who’ve spent their winter in Florida, and the occasional splash of water as trout leap joyfully.

Dropping My Hat

Life before COVID was frenetic. When business called, I’d be on an airplane at the drop of a hat. Some years I spent as much as 30 or 40 weeks on the road, sometimes leaving for a day or two, others for the entire week. It was not unusual for my office to call asking me to meet someone to view a location for a future convention, or to fly to the West Coast or New York for an important meeting. But Zoom changed all that, thankfully.

Life Changed

Life after COVID is different for me. Time with my kids at home taught me that being away from home was not in their best interest, nor my own. Though I’m not any less busy, and in some ways I’m more busy because of added commitments like more podcasts and shows, I spend my evenings with any family that happens to be here (when college isn’t in session), cuddling with the dogs and my bride of 28 years, binge-watching a show or two on Netflix, or rare stolen moments painting in my studio.

Just Say No

Sometimes it takes getting hit by a truck to get my attention. In this case it was a pandemic that shut down the entire world that made me realign my priorities. Nowadays an airplane is the last thing I want to board. Not over germ-spreading fears, but because I’d rather be home. In the past it was rare that I’d turn down an invitation. Nowadays it’s rare that I accept one.

Big Changes

Though the lockdowns are over, you and I are only beginning to feel the impact. Remote work made us realize we don’t need to be in offices (I closed most of my offices and took my company remote back in 1995). Some came to terms with not wanting to return to the work they were doing, others took early retirement, and others decided to take part in the gig economy and drive for Uber, which, for some, “beats working.” States like Florida and Texas are flooded with people who want to escape the big cities, putting high demand on real estate in small-town America. And there is suddenly no demand for office space, with 40% office vacancies and more to come as leases expire. No one knows where all of this leads, but it may not be pretty. None of this has ever happened before, and the repercussions are unpredictable. But the impact on our life, our economy, our future, could be huge.

Shifting Priorities

But COVID taught most of us that there is more to life than all the “stuff” that has trapped us. And no matter what happens to the economy, our focus needs to be on living a quality life. Though I’m not suggesting we won’t struggle in a downturn, I am suggesting that shifting priorities might make us notice it less.

In my collection of Russian paintings from the Soviet era, most are done on cardboard, and some even have printed shoebox labels on the back. They painted on any scraps they could find, and painted with joy, just because they were painting.

If you’ve traveled to places where people have nothing, you may have been surprised to see big smiles and more joy than you could find in a place where we have more than enough.

Live in the Present

We can become obsessed about what we don’t have, or what we used to have, or we can live with joy in the present. I feel blessed to have found things that interest me, like painting, woodworking, writing, and learning. Yet I feel sad when I encounter people who have not yet discovered their “thing.”

How we process each day has a giant impact on how that day goes and how we perceive our life at that moment.

Rich or Poor?

My late friend Norm used to say, “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor, and rich is better.” Yet he always used to talk about the good old days. Personally, I never want to return to the days of digging change out of the couches and surviving on peanut butter, but I was never unhappy then, just skinnier. As long as I was doing what I loved, and as long as I had people to share my life with, and had my health, nothing else really mattered.

Reverse Perspective

In the past my advice has been to turn around, to look where you are today versus where you came from. Many of us are living the dreams and goals we once had, but without looking back, we always seem to want more. So let’s embrace where we are, and design our lives so that if we get stuck here, or we go backward, we still find joy. That, then, is a life well lived.

Tough Love

My kids can’t relate to the stories of our struggle. Now they are starting to experience their own struggles, and rather than rescuing them, I love watching them grow through it. Tough love is not a welcome gift, but it’s the best gift we have to offer as parents. Rescuing them doesn’t help, it’s just easier on us than letting them suffer.

Self Accomplishment

I’ve never felt better than when I’ve pulled myself up from the ashes and accomplished things I’d only dreamed of. If someone else had provided it, I’d know in my heart that it wasn’t me who did it. There is no better sensation than the sense of accomplishment.

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” — Neale Donald Walsch

Find what you love, find people you love, and no matter what you face, you can face it with grace and pure satisfaction.

Who Is This Guy Eric Rhoads?

Eric is the founder and publisher of PleinAir magazine, Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine (both on newsstands nationally), author and host six of Art Marketing instructional videos and has a blog on Art Marketing, and is author of the Amazon best seller Make More Money Selling Your Art. He produces newsletters American Watercolor, Fine Art Today, Plein Air Today and RealismToday, Creator of; The Plein Air Convention, The Plein Air Salon $30,000 Art Competition, The Figurative Art Convention & Expo, Plein Air Live, Realism Live and Watercolor Live Virtual art conferences. Art instruction video with Streamline Art Video, Liliedahl Art Video, Creative Catalyst Art Productions, and Paint Tube.TV (art instruction on Roku, Amazon Fire, and Apple TV) and host of several painting retreats: Fall Color Week, Paint Adirondacks and PaintRussia, plus an annual collector Fine Art Trip, Rhoads hosts a daily art broadcast on Youtube and Facebook (search Streamline Art Video). He is a plein air , landscape and portrait painter with works at Castle Gallery. He is also heavily involved in the radio industry as founder of Radio Ink, as well as Radio and Television Business Report, the Radio Ink Forecast Conference, Podcast Business Journal, and the Radio Ink Hispanic Radio Conference. He is the author of a best-selling book on the History of radio; Blast From the Past: A Pictorial History of Radio's First 75 Years. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his bride Laurie and they are the parents of triplets. Learn more at EricRhoads.com or see Everything We Do.