I asked Merril, “what should I write about today?”  Her answer was “accomplishment.” I reckon I can see why she said that.
We are involved in a Family Fun Day that is coming up.  The one last year was great.  From where I was, the petting zoo was a big hit with the kids.  It was great for them to be able to interact with small farm animals.
We will run a Market at it, with a number of items for sale.  The number of people that come to it is far greater than normal - which is good.  Maybe no one wants what we have each time we are just outside the pantry, but on the Family Fun Day others come and can want what we have.
We have a number of small plants which can be divided and sold.  That has been something we have wanted to do for a while.
Yesterday I potted around looking at and preparing the place for laying mulch in a freshly cleaned up area.  Merril was getting and potting plants.  It was something she has wanted to do for ages and yesterday provided the chance to do it.  The theory is that by the time the family fun day comes around, the plants will have established themselves and be ready for sale.
Merril was happy with her accomplishments yesterday.  The plants are in pots and hopefully doing their thing.  If the past is anything to go by, they should be sold in very little time. Others are donating stuff but more would be good.
After that we helped someone clean.  It was their first time and gave us a chance to do what we felt needed to be done.  It is a regular thing for us to go down to N3C and set up for the Sunday.
It was not an “over the top” day, but, combined with other things we did, it was interesting.  Chief amongst everything was our sense of accomplishment.

Here I am looking at the James Clear email again.  He cities something a friend said to him that ring particularly true with me as I have gotten older.  “Never do anything in the gym today that prevents you from working out tomorrow.”
I did that yesterday.  The day before I knew I had major physical work to do in the next day.  I therefore told Merril I was not doing what was a major physical activity at home that day.
I was really glad I did that.  The next day I was amazed how tired my legs were are how close to cramping I was.  I reckon if I had worked the day before I would have cramped up early the next day.
I find that particularly amazing.  Thankfully there was a lot of help and I spent a good bit of time overseeing and making things happen, while others did most of the physical work.  Still it involved a lot of walking and figuring out who could do what. It did not help that a Plover was nesting in the area, and we were very often swooped on.  That was excitement I was not expecting.
As it was, I regard what was achieved as part one of what needs to be done to prevent our spare allotment parking area from becoming a muddy place whare many areas are avoided.
The point for me though was that I need to ensure what I do one day does not prevent me doing what I need to do later.  On that basis I tend to allow a few days between physical activities these days.  If I do not then a pay a price. 
Oh the joys of getting older.  It is something I never considered when I was younger.  I am one that deliberately makes days full to allow time the next day for other things.
I know to expect though a longer time for recovery than I did once.  That is why I “Never do anything in the gym today that prevents you from working out tomorrow.”  Ok it is not the gym, but it may as well be.

Here I am doing other things and not even thinking about an email coming through from James Clear.  And there it is.  He did say something in it (actually a few things) that got me thinking. 
It was not so much a quote that got to me, but something said as a preamble. “French writer and poet Rene Daumal reminds us that it's not about what we achieve, but who we become in the process”
I do like that. Ok I can understand those who say it is better to be rich and unhappy than poor and unhappy.
Yet I ask myself, “why be unhappy?”  It is too easy to focus on the getting of wealth and forgetting it is who I become in the getting of wealth that counts.  I reckon the getting of wealth is not the principle thing.  That does not dismiss the need to care and provide.  Yet to me even that may be a waste of time for me if I am unhappy in the process.
Unhappiness affects relationships.  I hear regularly about people that pursued wealth at the expense of those closest to them.  In the end it often causes a parting of the ways.  It can take seemingly no time or years.  But the drifting apart means questions are asked.  It seems to me a chief one is “am I getting value for money?”  In other words, is the satisfaction of being financially secure worth not knowing love and togetherness?
Tough question but as I know I have stated before, there are those who abandon what they think will make them happy for what really will make them happy.
One of the things these days is people seem to be self-focused.  Yet I think there is a time to be self-focused not at the expense of others.
I need to determine what is right for me and pursue that.  I am reminded of a song I love that says in talking about things, “some things we must defend with everything we’ve got.  Some things don’t matter much at all.”  I reckon what matters is my happiness because those around so often reflect those they are with.
Happiness can be contagious.