Life reflection.
Later this year, I will turn 40. They say that life begins at 40. I say the path towards middle age begins at 40. I am beginning to realise that the youth which I possess and take for granted will begin to evade me and I find myself desperately clinging to it. What have I achieved? I ask myself. I have achieved some things but quite frankly not enough. As I near the end of my thirties, I have to give myself some advice.
Advice 1 - do not rest on your laurels (or yannys if you heard about the latest social media debate). I have been in the same level job for over ten years and it is an administrative/support job. I can no longer afford to do that. The reason is that life and circumstances can change and I have to keep up with them. In the future I may end up with a family of my own and I need to be able to get a managerial or better paid job in order to support them. I need to go up the career ladder and not limit myself. I need to fulfil my ambitions and not just dream about them. I need to realise that not trying is worse than failure and that learning from my mistakes is a pathway to future success. If I have this attitude then I will be able to prosper.
Advice 2 - keep fit. As I get older, so does my body. Wear and tear happens to many an object and the human body is no exception. Laziness will not do it any good. I have to exercise and the only way to do that is to go running, walking, maybe swimming, maybe cycling and maybe weight-lifting and other exercises like push-ups and sit-ups. Regular exercises can strengthen the body, slow down the aging process and delay it from deteriorating. Also taking care of my body will require me to drink much less alcohol. I don't smoke but drinking does not do the body any good. In future I will limit my alcohol intake to once a week.
Advice 3 - join a club or socialise. A great way to meet new people and make new friends who share the same interests. I like going for walks, I like blogging, I like travelling. It is time I met like-minded people. If I join a club then I can introduce myself to people who I know I will get on well with and maybe become their close friend. And you know what may develop from close friendships! ;-)
Advice 4 - keep in touch with friends/relatives. I can count on one hand the number of closest friends and that is OK. However, I must arrange to meet up with them every now and again in order to catch up or I risk losing them and having fewer friends. Friends must be valued as they are the difference between spending the twilight years of life alone or growing old together and providing solidarity to each other. As we get older and eventually lose our parents, all we will have left are friends, siblings and cousins as well as relatives from the next couple of generations. Therefore it is important not to sever that link with all our friends, our immediate families and wider relatives and, with the presence of social media, there really is no excuse. I will hopefully be planning a big family private dinner to mark my birthday milestone.
Advice 5 - take the plunge. What is preventing me from taking it? Fear of failure? Fear of the unknown? Fear of being out of my comfort zone? So flipping what?! Sometimes we need those things in order to develop character. I am an adult now so there is absolutely nothing preventing me from travelling, even if I have to do it solo. There is absolutely nothing preventing me from developing my career, even if I have to experience failure. I can dust myself off and try again. Perseverance is key! The unknown? Life is full of new experiences which make it all the more exciting and worth living. As they say, life is too short and I do not want to spend my old age with many regrets.
If I follow all of the above advice then my life will improve. It is no good saying that your life sucks if you are not going to do anything about it. Your life doesn't have to suck. It's what you make of it that matters. We all have the potential to make the most of our lives and we must not limit ourselves. Yes there are challenges. Yes there are restrictions. But if we really want to achieve something we must persevere. That is all I have to say.
TTFN.
Advice 1 - do not rest on your laurels (or yannys if you heard about the latest social media debate). I have been in the same level job for over ten years and it is an administrative/support job. I can no longer afford to do that. The reason is that life and circumstances can change and I have to keep up with them. In the future I may end up with a family of my own and I need to be able to get a managerial or better paid job in order to support them. I need to go up the career ladder and not limit myself. I need to fulfil my ambitions and not just dream about them. I need to realise that not trying is worse than failure and that learning from my mistakes is a pathway to future success. If I have this attitude then I will be able to prosper.
Advice 2 - keep fit. As I get older, so does my body. Wear and tear happens to many an object and the human body is no exception. Laziness will not do it any good. I have to exercise and the only way to do that is to go running, walking, maybe swimming, maybe cycling and maybe weight-lifting and other exercises like push-ups and sit-ups. Regular exercises can strengthen the body, slow down the aging process and delay it from deteriorating. Also taking care of my body will require me to drink much less alcohol. I don't smoke but drinking does not do the body any good. In future I will limit my alcohol intake to once a week.
Advice 3 - join a club or socialise. A great way to meet new people and make new friends who share the same interests. I like going for walks, I like blogging, I like travelling. It is time I met like-minded people. If I join a club then I can introduce myself to people who I know I will get on well with and maybe become their close friend. And you know what may develop from close friendships! ;-)
Advice 4 - keep in touch with friends/relatives. I can count on one hand the number of closest friends and that is OK. However, I must arrange to meet up with them every now and again in order to catch up or I risk losing them and having fewer friends. Friends must be valued as they are the difference between spending the twilight years of life alone or growing old together and providing solidarity to each other. As we get older and eventually lose our parents, all we will have left are friends, siblings and cousins as well as relatives from the next couple of generations. Therefore it is important not to sever that link with all our friends, our immediate families and wider relatives and, with the presence of social media, there really is no excuse. I will hopefully be planning a big family private dinner to mark my birthday milestone.
Advice 5 - take the plunge. What is preventing me from taking it? Fear of failure? Fear of the unknown? Fear of being out of my comfort zone? So flipping what?! Sometimes we need those things in order to develop character. I am an adult now so there is absolutely nothing preventing me from travelling, even if I have to do it solo. There is absolutely nothing preventing me from developing my career, even if I have to experience failure. I can dust myself off and try again. Perseverance is key! The unknown? Life is full of new experiences which make it all the more exciting and worth living. As they say, life is too short and I do not want to spend my old age with many regrets.
If I follow all of the above advice then my life will improve. It is no good saying that your life sucks if you are not going to do anything about it. Your life doesn't have to suck. It's what you make of it that matters. We all have the potential to make the most of our lives and we must not limit ourselves. Yes there are challenges. Yes there are restrictions. But if we really want to achieve something we must persevere. That is all I have to say.
TTFN.
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ReplyDeleteThanks Kitdan....advice I can also use - I think! Regarding your Blogging comment - join Black British Bloggers....there's about 300 of us and they have meet-ups.
DeleteWill do.
Delete