The end of 2016

Time is a funny old thing. There are exactly the same number of hours in each day and yet some days pass in the blink of an eye while others seem like they’ll never end. How we spend those twenty four hours is ultimately down to us.

Yes, of course, we have commitments; perhaps a full time job, maybe a demanding college course. It might be raising a family or caring for aging parents. Within the lives of most of us are the Must Do Every Day stuff that we can’t run away from. And while many of us have times when we dream of packing it all in and setting off on our own life adventure; the reality is that it would have to wait until after school run and the traffic clears on the M11!

And so we face a dilemma – to run the familiar pattern of All or Nothing. If we can’t have the life adventure, we give up and have nothing. The little voice that whispers ‘There’s no point’ or ‘You’ll never be able’ or ‘What’s the use?’ The little voice that sabotages plans and suffocates hope and tells us that all or nothing is the only way forward.

I say it’s wrong. Today, there’s another option and it’s very simple. Today, yes today, on the last day of 2016, do something small that makes your heart sing. Take ten minutes now to put down your phone or tablet and allow your mind to rest and remember what it is you enjoy doing. Maybe it’s doing a crossword, perhaps reading a poem. It could be feeding the ducks with your children. Or getting out your old cds and listen to the songs that make you want to dance.

Time passes, regardless of how we spend it.

Robin Sharma describes a great life as “nothing more than a series of great, well lived days strung together like a beautiful necklace of pearls.” Today, on this last day of 2016, add a pearl to this year’s necklace.

For today will become yesterday tomorrow. Ashleigh Xxx