Here’s why:
“When I was a younger business owner, I worked every holiday. (Still do.)
A lot of people knocked me for it.
“Take a day off” they’d say.
What they didn’t realize was I didn’t view it as “work”, never have.
I am thankful for a life I have no desire to vacation away from.”
-Ray Zingler on X
It was Thanksgiving Day 2016.
It was the first Thanksgiving I was considering closing the gym for the day since I’d been in business.
I decided to leave one session on the schedule.
9:30am.
At the time I was operating the gym in the basement of my childhood home.
At around 9:10am, I was in the “office” (bonus room) and heard a knock at the back door.
And then another, and another.
“What the hell?”
There was a group of over 20 athletes waiting outside the door, 20 minutes early on Thanksgiving morning.
I was expecting 2 or 3.
“Don’t you guys have plans with your family’s? You don’t have to be here!”
“You are our family, Ray.”
Holy shit.
That’s when it hit me.
I have the coolest fucking “job” in the world.
I literally get to spend time with people I love like family and I get to share my passion with them.
What a blessing.
I used to work in-person, on the floor, every single holiday. For years.
And people knocked me for it.
“You don’t have to do that.”
Some even considered me “selfish”.
That’s odd? I’m literally in a field that revolves around serving other people.
And it made me feel sad.
Certainly not for myself, but for them.
I thought to myself, “imagine being a slave to a job you have a desire to vacation away from.”
Working for the weekends, paid time off, and “climbing the tenure ladder” so you can go to a beach house a couple times per year.
I’d rather die.
Since that Thanksgiving morning, because my roles in the business have evolved, we now do close our doors, but rest assured I and many other business owners across the country are still working today, albeit it being a different capacity.
If you’re in a career field that is your calling and you desire to work the holidays because the valuable work fuels your soul, never let any other miserable person tell you that you shouldn’t because they hate their job.
When you perform deep, meaningful, purposeful work, you’ll notice you have little desire to get away from it.
Be thankful you get to lead a life that fuels your soul every day of the year.
