Blog Posts by Alisa Bowman

While in Sacramento for a conference, my friend Deb and I hailed a cab to a restaurant. During the ride, we learned from Shaa, our cabbie, that life in Sacramento was anything but easy. The recession has hit this California city hard, he told us. Case in point: he'd been driving his cab more than 10 hours that day. We were his second fare. During that 10 hours, he'd netted only $45.

You might say our hearts went out to him because that's exactly what happened. Deb and I made it our mission to keep Shaa in business. For the rest of our four-day stay, we called Shaa every time we needed to go anywhere, even if we could have walked. We tipped him generously each time.

We joked, "You're our official driver."

Along the way, we learned that Shaa had been born in Afghanistan. He earned his living by driving a cab, but he occasionally flew to Indiana to consult with the government about matters involving his birth country. We talked about Khaled Hosseini's books, the mega best

If you are anything like I am, then your picture of nirvana looks something like this: Only doing what you love, not having to do anything you don't.

Or perhaps that's just me.

Yet, real life isn't nirvana. Frequently the people we love the most ask the most of us. They want us to do that which we would just rather not.

Let me tell you a story to illustrate this phenomenon. Not long ago, my daughter was riding her bike for the first time on a makeshift BMX track, one complete with several very steep hills and impressive jumps. She fell in love with the experience right away, shouting, "This is awesome!" as she rode.

I watched and smiled. It's delicious to watch one's child having so much fun.

Then she said, "Mom! You do it!"

The beauty of giving up a part of your self

I told her that I would rather not. After all, I suffer from all of the following: A fear of heights, a fear of doing anything at high speeds, and a fear of doing anything that could potentially involve falling and breaking something.