Photo Credit: © Can Stock Photo / len4foto
The Image: Sitting on the beach with your hair blowing frantically from the relentless, salty ocean breeze, you take a deep breath, while your trusty Labrador, Bo, faithfully wags his tail. The pad and pencil next to you is filled with notes that will inevitably lead to the great novel you will pen. The sun, a deep-orange, furious ball, seems to extinguish itself in the water. As you walk to your meticulously restored pickup truck, Bo follows, hops up into the passenger seat, and is half asleep by the time you hit the main road. You are inspired, lofty, and feeling fortunate to be alive.
The Reality: When you get to the beach, there are kids everywhere, so you find a little privacy under a tree, but from where you are sitting, you can’t see the water unless you stand up. You pull out paper and pencil and discover the pencil tip has broken off, so you sharpen it by using a nearby rock. The humidity has made the paper wet, so if you do have inspirational thoughts, you’ll have to remember them. Your dog, a Lab-Boxer mix you got from the pound and your kids named “Tippy,” has decided to do his business about three feet from where you are sitting. You clean it up and cover the spot with sand. When you finally sit back to enjoy the sounds of the water, you realize the blanket is covered with ants. Giving up, you gather your things and head to the aging sedan you drive because you have spent most of the auto budget on your kids, who need cars of their own so you and the wife don’t spend the whole day driving them to places. Right before you get home, a police officer stops you for failing to come to a complete stop at a stop sign. As he writes the ticket, he sees you are not wearing a safety belt, so he increases the fine.
The Image: You’ve paid down every credit card and outstanding debt, so after three years you are finally “even” again. Other than utilities, insurance, and the house payment, the next paycheck should allow for a substantial number of bucks in your pocket. As you ponder what to do with the money—perhaps a weekend getaway, that pool table you’ve been wanting, or a hot tub for the deck—you revel in how nice it will be to do something pleasurable instead of something that HAS to be done.