My life as a sandwich

The sandwich, legend has it, was invented by the Earl of Sandwich when he wanted to eat and gamble at the same time without getting the playing cards greasy. He instructed his chef to put some meat between slices of bread so he could hold it. Food history was changed forever by a gambler.

I work from home, so my work schedule is of my own design and my perfect day begins with me. It starts with yoga, meditation, journaling and breakfast. I end my days with my wusband — we have cocktails, dinner, entertainment and bed. Between living my life, I work. This is my life sandwich.

When you’re a kid, your life sandwich is like a fluffernutter. Even when you have school, you still have fun, so your fillings are sweet – gym, recess, music and art. When you get older, work takes over. Your life sandwich is more like a Reuben — you pile on as much as you can. When I lived in NYC, I prided myself on my ability to squeeze in up to six meetings in a day. Life was a big, meaty mess of a sandwich all about making as much of your life as possible revolve around work.

Eventually, it was just too much. Just imagine what it would be like eating a Reuben every day for 17 years. It was killing me — eventually I had to stop.

When we fill our life with work and very little living, it is like a sandwich filled with too much meat. It’s messy. The tasty toppings slide out from the edges, dragging out the pickles and secret sauce. The overfilled life is the same way: all of the good stuff — the variety — leaks out and gets lost. We fill the living spaces with work and worry, pushing out the joy, allowing the sweet life we relish to get lost.

My ultimate goal is to stop making sandwiches altogether and just live. I don’t mean by not working; my ultimate goal is about spending my time living my mission, fully integrated, with no discernable difference between life and work.

I’m not sure what the food analogy would be for this. Hummus dip?

While I am still making sandwiches, my ideal would be a tea sandwich. They are small and delicate sandwiches. They don’t have much filling and the filling they do have is mild and sweet. Instead of a big meaty sandwich, they are light, intended to stave off hunger and provide a snack before your bigger meal later. That’s my ideal — so what’s yours?

And the biggest question: how?

The more responsibilities in our life, the more elements you have to balance. Start with what you love. Consider the parts of your life that bring you the most joy and satisfaction. When you are giving yourself exactly what you need, what does that look like? If money was not an issue and you didn’t have to go to work, what would you fill your day with?

Don’t you think it’s time to start creating something delicious that allows you to do more of what brings you true life satisfaction?

Only we can create the sandwich that we really want. We are empowered to have whatever ingredients we want as part of our life sandwich. Take the time to build just what you want, it will be the most delicious sandwich you’ve ever made and one you’ll be happy to take a bite of it every day.