When are we finally “finished” with anything?
The idea of finishing what we start has been beaten into many of us since we were children. The idea of leaving a task “unfinished “ is uncomfortable to most of us.
But are we ever really “finished”?
Education has become known as life-time learning. We have all been forced to learn new ways to do things. Are we ever really finished learning?
Wisdom and experience both come with age. We may reach a point where we stop gaining wisdom, but as long as we live we will keep adding new experiences.
Gardening – I am not much of a gardener, but I have observed the cyclical nature of virtually everything. Also, I have found that gardeners are never really, “finished.” There seems always be “one more” thing that can make the garden or yard just a little better.
Kids are lifetime companions and “works in progress.” All parents know that it is a myth that they are “finished” once their offspring graduate, get married or have kids of their own. Even if we have totally lost control, we worry about our kids. We are still their parents and still have some responsibility to/for them.
Jobs are never done. The process of doing work, whether for oneself or for others, is such that no job is ever really “finished.” This is true of every profession. There is always something more that can still be accomplished or improved upon regardless of how hard we try or how well we have done up until now.
Retirement is not the answer. We all trade our obligations to a business or organization for our own “To do” and “Bucket” lists. Just because in retirement we set our own goals does not mean that we ever really are “finished.” Even though we may have significant achievements, there is always something more that could or should be done.
Even Death is not the answer. There will be some “unfinished” business left for our survivors.
I think you get my point, we are never really finished.
Speaking of “finished, ” this will be my last post for a while. My next big project is publishing all of my 49 posts to this blog into a single book.
I have neither the connections, nor for that matter, the desire to present my work to a publisher. I clearly understand why some people do this, as having a “publisher” provides a stamp of approval and “publication” is clearly necessary for academics.
For me however, self publishing is good enough. I’m willing to stand behind my words (or change them if I find I am wrong). And, these are “my” words and thoughts, no editor or external “approval” is needed.
And I don’t really care about the wider audience that a publishing house would provide. My audience is simply the people I know personally. This includes friends, colleagues and family. People who know me can weigh what I say based on personal interactions I’ve had with them over the years.
The book will be titled the same as this blog, “Common Ground.” My goal is to publish it by the end of 2024. Stay tuned.
Even if I meet this goal, I will not be totally “finished.” The jimsim.com web site and the Common Ground blog on that website will stay up as long as I am able to maintain it. I am pretty sure something will trigger me to write additional posts beyond those so far which will all be in the Common Ground book.
As I have said before, we are never really finished.
