Only Now

Are you really seeing the world around you, appreciating every final drop?

I have a mantra.

I had it engraved on a ring, which I wear most of the time except when I want to get the bling out. It says, ‘This too shall pass.’

It’s there to remind me that everything, EVERYTHING, passes eventually. The awful worries either come to fruition or pass. Mainly they pass. We spend endless precious days, weeks, even years, worrying about stuff that never actually happens.

“Worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real worries in your life are apt to be ones that never crossed your worried mind. The ones that blindside you on some idle Tuesday.” (Baz Luhrman)

In the meantime, the amazing, happy moments pass, screeching past our ears before we even take time to notice them. Golden moments that should be engraved in our minds, treated shamefully, routinely and ungratefully.

Sometimes it really does feel like every day is the same as the one before and that all the ones coming might be the same too. Sometimes you feel out of control and subject to the vagaries of a very unhelpful and unkind fate. When everyone else seems to have a great job, a fabulous career, a gorgeous lover and a dazzling future.

At which point you can choose to either just sit in the middle or you can decide to take a nanosecond to realise that THIS IS IT. This is your life. This is now and you are NEVER going to get this moment back.

If you don’t like it, work on changing it. If you can’t work out how to change it right this minute, work on squeezing the pips out of it until you find something that makes it worthwhile.

Wherever you are, be there.

It really doesn’t matter if you move on to new things or focus on where you are and make the most of it but do whatever you do with enthusiasm. It feels better inside for you and looks better outside to the people around you.

Bring enthusiasm to everything even before you feel it. As the saying goes, “If you build it, they will come.”