You Can't Roll Up a Hill.

If I were a rock that fell from space and landed on a slope in the middle of a mountain, the chances are I would roll downhill and not uphill.  I say chances are, but of course it's obvious.  Logic tells us that a rock will roll when dropped onto a slope - and it wouldn't be as daft as to roll uphill - would it?  Yet, it seems that most people try to defy logic by attempting to metophorically roll uphill.  Consider:  Paddy is a nice man who never said a bad word to anyone.  As a young boy he was fascinated with the garden - planting shrubs, flowers, knowing the roll of the seasons and the habits of the birds.  If ever anything needed to be done around the garden - Paddy was your man.  Gardening for Paddy was the equivilant of a downhill stretch for that rock previously mentioned - he didn't even need to think about it.  But what did Paddy decide to do with his life?  Well, for starters he dismissed gardening as a mere hobby and went to college to study business and finance - in order to get a real job.  His dedication and attention to detail ensured his successful graduation - though he complained constantly that his studies were 'boring' and his lecturers were 'absolutely useless'.  The real drudgery for Paddy started when he got out into the real world and attempted to climb the ladder of success.  At every turn he grew frustrated, bored, and was constantly overworked.  The promotions didn't come fast enough, and whenever they eventually did come they brought with them more duties that went against his personality - like having to fire someone!

But what if Paddy had decided to roll downhill?  He thought: surely there's no money in gardening - how could I pay a mortgage, pay my bills, have a nice car, go on a few holidays every year etc...?

Herein lies the problem:  Paddy underestimated the value of his real talents.  We are the worst people to judge our own worth - we are like the spoon that attempts to be a knife - every day it sees the knife cutting bread, spreading butter, slicing meat and it thinks 'that knife is so valuable, I'd love to be that knife!'.  If the spoon took time to consider his own worth he'd soon see that you can't drink soup with a knife! 

And the moral of the story is...  whatever I attempt this year, and I'm looking at many options, I'm definitely going to roll downhill!