“The two most important days in your
life are the day that you are born,
and the day you find out why.”
- Mark Twain
I guess I've got a lot to look forward
to then...
I don't have a clue why I was born, but I'm quite glad
that I was.
This world is a terribly beautiful place and I would have
hated to miss out on it.
A good friend recently taught me to
make inverse bucket lists so that instead of simply talking about all
the amazing things you're one day going to [maybe] do with your life,
you make a list of all the great things you have already
accomplished.
Not for anyone else, but so that you can recall them,
and remember the things they taught you.
That way you don't have to
think and plan too much.
You just have to jump at opportunities and
say “YES!”.
And if you don't, your list stays empty.
“Life is either a daring adventure,
or nothing at all”
- Helen Keller
I'm sitting in my new room in my new
house in my old country and older age contemplating.
There's quite a
lot to contemplate.
But as another year draws to a very
rapid premature end, I need both red wine and reminiscence and
re-evaluation. [And you may think this sentence wrong, but I have two
kinds of wine].
Looking back, it's quite easy to feel
like a failure, to look back at regrets, failures,
and the bad hair
days of 2016.
Personally I'm an optimist.
It may sound like a
pleasurable happy thing, but when it comes to making plans and
setting out what you want to do with your life, it's quite easy to
get carried away.
This year:
I set off to finish my
circumnavigation. I gave up just before the end. I failed.
I attempted to find gainful employment.
I quit twice, before getting paid. I failed.
I hoped to visit many many new exciting
countries. I made it to three. I failed.
I was hoping to work out what I'm on
this planet for. I'm even more confused now. I failed.
I thought it might be nice to finally
meet the one. I failed miserably.
 |
| My life going up in flames [literally] |
But the list of things I did accomplish
is far longer.
And as far as I'm concerned the only set new year
resolution I had was: “Survive 2016.”
I'm doing pretty well on
that front.
How did you find 2016?
What did you
accomplish?
Who did you meet?
What did you do?
Who did you become?
How do you feel about all of that?
I got back to South Africa at just the
right time to watch the world wind down.
People appear to be in a
state of limbo-ed complacency as they count down the days till
Christmas leave.
It's been good to listen to people talk about what
they want to do differently next year.
It's been good to remember why
I chose a life of professional gypsyism.
It's reminded me even more
about what I don't want to do with my life!
“Instead of wondering when your next
vacation is,
maybe you should set up a life you don't need to run
away from”
– Seth Godin
But still it is good to work. It is
good to toil.
It's good to break a sweat and feel like you've
accomplished something,
that you've led a life worthy of your
calling.
Remember life's not meant to just be average!
“When I stand before God, at the end
of my life,
I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent
left
and could say “I used everything you gave me” “
- Erma
Bombeck
