Enjoy every moment…

I often wish those celebrating birthdays to enjoy every moment…   No matter which way you look at it everyone interprets this in their own way.

As you’d expect the way I live my life and my perspective on life is quite different to how you may view yours and the manner in which you may choose to live your life.

All perfectly rational and important.

However, the challenge for me is that I witness many people just marking time… nor understand that we all only have a finite amount of time in this life.

Never seemingly stepping outside their comfort zone nor willing to try new things, but just going through the motions of life.

I’m not one to judge as we all have our burdens to carry and life to live, but I feel at times like I’m surrounded by joyless society.

The common question of what did you do on the weekend when seeing friends or co-workers often ends with “not much”.

I’d love to challenge you on “not much”…

Is it that you prefer not to divulge the things you did, or if indeed you actually didn’t do anything of note?

So, what does it mean to enjoy every moment?

For me, it’s about taking every minute of every day and making them both enjoyable, but also as memorable as possible.  Seeking uniqueness in the everyday is key.

You all know me as a shameless adventurer who’s naturally curious and loves nothing more than to explore and seek out adventures at every turn.

In many ways people think of adventures in terms of vacations, or trips versus a collage of the everyday.

Clearly, it depends on your perspective, but I prefer a mix of adventures, not only my trips but also the day-to-day micro adventures that contribute to getting as much enjoyment out of life as possible.

A general misconception is that we all believe we have time…

However, we never know when this will be the last time we say “I love you” to someone important to you or choose to say “yes” versus I’m busy.

I’ve had few of these occasions in my life, when I look back and think I didn’t know that that moment would be my last to give a hug, or say I love you…

For me, it’s not about regret so much as its about being in the moment and being aware that it’s important to leave nothing unsaid nor untended.

The lessons I learned by observing the life of my parents have been instrumental in my approach to living life.

My mum always had dreams of travelling and experiencing life outside the small, rural country town that I grew up in, but she never did.

Money was tight and times were generally difficult and so she was confined to a lifetime of disappointment and boredom.

Not unlike my dad who had to work a couple of jobs to keep food on the table, and with no time for himself or fun except the occasional early morning fishing trip of a Sunday ground out their existence.

I realized from an early age that I didn’t want to repeat this type of life and so embarked, although I didn’t perhaps know it at the time of seeking out adventures and fun things to do.

Often my mum would try to bring me back to earth and ground me in the reality that life is a grind and not for fun.

I know she had the right intentions and that in many ways she was trying to instil me a sense of reality, but I could see beyond our limited life to one that I could live on my terms.

Lofty stuff for a child, but I knew deep down that life was to be lived.

Enjoy every moment became my mantra for living the life I’d always dreamed of.

Without truly understand it I understood that creating this type of life would be up to me.

I knew that I had to be unwavering in my endeavours and that only I could create this for myself.  Over the years I had ebbs and flows like most of us.

However, this came into sharp focus again after the passing of my dad and the end of my 14-year marriage.

It was time to make this the complete focus of my life and that to become an evangelist (non-religious) for creating and living the life you always want.

No longer was I content to sit back and enjoy every moment of my own life, but also wanted to communicate and tell others that creating and living this type of was possible if they had the right mindset and willingness to act.

To enjoy every moment is to live life!

Perhaps that’s why I have such an affinity with the concept of “la dolce vita” or the sweet life cos’ I know deep in my heart that we only live once and that unless we squeeze every drop of enjoyment out of it, we are depriving ourselves.

I challenge you to create memories every day, seek out opportunities to enjoy every moment and to leave nothing unsaid to those you care about.

Time is of the essence…

Until next week

Ciao!