I Don't Have Time For Fun

“I don’t have time for fun” I replied grumpily. And it was true. Andy Kirkpatrick. Cold Wars.

I often think this is me, the person, who is retired and retired young with no family and no responsibilites, but somehow does not have time for fun. At the end of each day, I ask the question - a subtle rework of Dan John’s “Did you get better today?” - “Did I get closer to my goals today?” The answer does not require any PR’s or PB’s (or whatever the latest lexicon is) but I try, at a minimum to do at least one thing each day that gets me closer to my goals. Often times, that rules out things done solely for fun, because even retired people with minimal responsibilites have other things that need doing.

Training on a train

Most folks have trouble understanding this. Even Doug, whose been with me as a soul mate, best friend, climbing partner and sea kayak fellow adventurer for 35 years finds this intensity hard to bear at times.

Training on stairs

Right now I have a cold, or virus, whatever you want to call it. I’ve had it for almost a week, and, up until today it was full speed ahead; although, admittedly, I was feeling pretty fatigued and in bed by 8:00 pm every night. According to those silly plastic tests the government spent a fortune on, it’s not the ‘rona, so I am still a proud novid (my time is limited I reckon) which is a minor source of unwarranted pride. Being a novid, as much as I’d like to think it is due to my mostly meat diet, is likely more luck than anything else.

Training at the local playground

This is the first time I’ve been ill since September 2012 when we flew into Australia from Canada. I caught, as many of us do on aeroplanes, some kind of virus on the flight and was sick for a week or so. When I realised last Thursday I’d got a cold/virus, my first thought was “Damn, another two years and I would have gone 15 years without having a single illness. Wouldn’t that have been something.”

Summit four or five in the Adamant Range

When I mentioned this to Doug, he laughed. What I wanted him to say was something along the lines of “Don’t ever change.” But what he actually said was “That is so like you. When we would climb seven mountains in a day you’d always say ‘We should have climbed eight.” I’ve never actually done seven mountains in a day but I have had a few good days when we climbed four or five and one fantastic week in the Adamant Range in British Columbia where, over 5 days we climbed 11 peaks including four in one day. We really should have done five.

All photo credits: DB