“I was in Qingdao a few years ago. I was at this temple that Laozi was in thousands of years ago, stood at the same place. It was very interesting,” said Jean, an 80-year-old store associate at Indigo, as she continued to wrap the 5 presents.
When she described her China trip, her face glowed. She was so excited about learning a different culture.
She started sharing about her life stories with me, a stranger that she just met.
Turns out, Jean is a single mother of 3 children. She raised these three kids on her own. She often had to work two full time job to make ends meet.
One of the biggest regrets she had was that she didn’t have much opportunity to learn anything when she was young. Her brother even called her “empty” when she was young. Money was tight. Time was even tighter with 3 kids and 2 full time jobs.
At age 80, she uses every single opportunity to learn. She works at Indigo and she also works as a yoga instructor.
I bet she’s more flexible than I am.
You don’t often see an 80 year old working, let alone being a yoga instructor.
She’s still learning. She loves learning new things. She can’t stop smiling when she shared her learning experiences.
She reminds me of the book Happiness Equation: Want Nothing + Do Anything = Have Everything written by Neil Pasricha.
Neil mentioned the concept of ikigai from a small Japanese island Okinawa. Ikigai roughly translates to a reason to jump out of bed in the morning.
Jean’s reason to jump of her bed every morning is the opportunity to learn new things in this world.
Ikigai is the reason why Jean looked excited and happy at 8:30 pm wrapping my presents.
Ikigai is the reason why people from this small Japanese island live 7 years longer than the average American.
When clients come to me for initial consultation, I often start my conversation with why.
Why do you invest in real estate?
What do you want out of your lives?
Real estate, or any other investments, and even your jobs, are just means to an end.
What’s your end goal? What’s your Ikigai?
Everyone talks about financial freedom. When you get to be financially free, then what?
Early retirement?
Finding your Ikigai …finding your reason to wake up in the morning so we can live longer, happier, and healthier.
Maybe then, when I get to 80, I will also look as good as Jean does.
Now…onto this week’s topic – How to Use Gmail & Interact Autodeposit Function to Collect Rent
Until next time, happy Canadian Real Estate Investing.
Cherry Chan, CPA, CA
Your Real Estate Accountant
