View from the Cheap Seats

October 5-11, 2015

Changing gears

By William O. “Bill” James, Jr.

In the latest chapters of “Bill is getting old” I have learned that I have arthritis in my thumbs and I experienced my first bout of shingles. Apparently the former can’t really be fixed without complete loss of grip in my hands and the latter is brought on by an increase in stress. I am specifically told that the onset of shingles at my tender age makes it even more likely that an excess of stress in my life is what has brought on this road rash pain maker to my back.  I don’t want to be a whiner, but it hurts a lot. Plus, it never sleeps.

Looking back on my life, I can remember several points where I was overwhelmed with what was going on and felt like a race car about to blow because my needle was buried in the red.  Everything was moving a little fast and I felt like I needed to shift to a higher gear to make my life more efficient. I felt like this because I find myself in a constant race with time and my burning desire to accomplish more before I die. I knew there was an alternative to changing gears: I could always slow down. I have never really liked that idea. I always feel that I can overcome the quantity by working harder and smarter. After all, there are millions of folks out there that get much lot more done than I do. If they can do it, why can’t I?

As I get older and my body begins to fail me, I have the added pressure of realizing that there is only so much I can do.  I can push hard but, if I am not careful, I may break.  I can’t imagine that “breaking” is good for anyone’sproductivity. That only leaves me with working smarter or slowing down.   I have already told you how I feel about slowing down. Of course, I don’t have to do one to the exclusion of the other. A little of both might be all that is needed to get me back on the right track. Maybe, I can ease off the gas and shift into a higher gear. After all, for those that remember, you have to let off the gas before you shift gears.

Whichever way I chose to go, I must always remember that my attitude about what is going on is just as important as anything else. That is nothing more than the half full/half empty example that we have heard all of our lives. The quickest way to change a situation is to look at it from a different view point.

Even with that being said, we all have limitations. Sometimes an attitude adjustment is as simple as realizing the limits of your finite abilities and to become comfortable with the natural limits of your life. The one thing that the last two chapters of my life have shown me is that your health is all you have and if you don’t have time to take care of yourself today, how will you have time in the future? So many of us sell our futures and long term health only to spend the money we make for our time trying to buy our health back. It is a very sad cycle of life. Of course, this phenomena is sometimes hard for a young man to understand.

Take a look at your life and trim the fat. Do what you do because that is what you want to do and look for the most efficient way to get what you want done. There is little doubt that there is a lot that you can cut without even missing it.

Finally, if you are 50 or above and had chicken pox when you were little go and get the shot to help prevent shingles. That is my public service announcement for the week. Sometimes we need to hear this kind of thing, especially if we sit up high in the CHEAP SEATS!

Bill James is a criminal defense lawyer and co founder of the James Law Firm with offices in Little Rock, Conway, and Fayetteville, Arkansas.  He may be contacted at Bill@JamesFirm.com.