The long and winding road that I call simply, life.

Hi there,

I was on Facebook the other day and my sister posted that ‘life never ceased to amaze her’, which prompted several comments as you could imagine. Some were on the lines that ‘things happen for a reason, we just have to find it’. This led me to add, ‘Some say that there are reasons for things, others say it’s God‘s will but what about the random things that catch us sideways that seem to have no rhyme or reason? I like the saying that shit happens but life goes on’

This led me to remember some more sayings about life, such as;

S.S.D.D., Same Shit Different Day,

Life is never boring, boring people do boring things,

and,

Life has three rules,

Rule 1, Shit happens.

Rule 2, Shit happens on a regular basis,

Rule 3, If you’re not sure what to do next, refer back to Rule 1.

Life is all about choices, whether we realise it or not, we all have them, we all make them and the choices we make tell the world the kind of person we are. If we come to a certain fork in the road of life that is better for us but hurts others, what do we do, do we choose to put our needs before others or the reverse? whatever choice we make tells us something about the type of person we are. We travel down this road guided by our moral compass which helps us to make the right choices.

Now you might think I’m rambling a bit but what I’m trying to say, probably very badly that in my opinion life is a road that we travel, it has many twists and turns on the way and we’re never truly alone on our journey. If there is no one standing by us we still have our thoughts and memories to keep us company. Some travel like this whilst others have friends and family along for the company. While we make this journey we should never take anything for granted. As my sister once said ‘Live every day as if it’s your last, because one day it will be’ I don’t think she was advocating going out and bungee jumping every day or running off and doing anything stupid. I think she was trying to say that you have to envelop life around you, immerse yourself in its diverse qualities. Take nothing for granted, look around and marvel at what’s around you. Take pleasure in a simple flower opening to the sun, or the dawn rising above the horizon, revel in the amazing sight of a new moon in a star filled sky. Look around you at the people who inhabit this world, their diversity of cultures all wanting the same thing, to live.

This life is a long and winding road with many twists and turns, no one knows for sure what we’ll meet when we reach the end, just that we’ll get there, what’s important though, is how we get there.

See you soon,

Jan.

Simple things can put life into new perspective.

Hi there,

I’ve mentioned in earlier posts about how things have been not going as smoothly as I’d liked, well, yesterday things seemed to work out fine as, deep down I knew they would. Something inside me knew that my worst case scenario would not happen which helped me stay positive throughout the whole ordeal. My partner though, was more stressed than I as it affected her directly, anyway that’s all in the past now I hope.

Yesterday afternoon, after the usual weekly shopping trip, we decided to go for a walk along the Cromford canal.

The sun was shining, the birds were singing and the views were stunning. I’ve also mentioned in earlier posts that I now live in a beautiful part of the country near Matlock and yesterday as we were walking, it suddenly hit home that this is where I live and these beautiful surroundings I get to see every day.

I don’t know if it was the stress of moving in and everything that followed, the work issues and problems my partner was facing, but as I was looking around me as we walked along the canal it suddenly dawned on me that people go there to holiday and I actually live there, how lucky am I.

I may not have a lot of money, hardly any if the truth be told, but I have my health, the love of a good woman, a family who loves me and supports everything I do, as I do for them, and I live in a beautiful area so I consider myself to be among the richest men on earth.

Embrace everything you have in this world and cherish it for what it is, for, as we’ve seen in countless news reports from around the world, it can all end in an instant.

See you soon,

Jan.

Settling in, yet retaining that holiday feel.

Hi there,

it’s been a few weeks now since I moved to my new home in Matlock and this last weekend saw the official handing back of the keys to my old home.

Today, with being on holiday, my partner and I took a short trip over to Chatsworth and visited their garden centre and their farm shop. It’s been a lovely day, sunny with just a hint of chill remaining in the air to remind us that spring is still not quite here yet.

As I was walking around, looking at the spectacular views I remarked to my partner that, for me, it was like being on holiday away from home. We spoke about how long it was before the novelty of living somewhere so picturesque wore off on her and if I’d ever take my surroundings for granted and not appreciate the beauty of it all.

Being the wise and wonderful person she is she told  me that although I would come to regard it as home I would never take it all for granted.

Wouldn’t it be sad if we didn’t see the world for the wonderful place it is, I know there are hell holes on Earth and some people live in them and there’s nothing I can do to change that, I may be able to ease their suffering but there is a limit to what we can do. For those who are fortunate enough to live in comfort and what we in the west consider normality, for those people to not appreciate the splendour of the world around them in my opinion is sad to say the least. It’s the age old adage of ‘no matter how bad off you think you are, there is always someone worse off than yourself”

This post may ramble on a bit, and I’m not seeking to start some philosophical debate on man’s propensity to harm each other or the world around him I was just saying what a great day I had.

See you soon,

Jan.