At the beginning of every New Year, I sit down and plan my year ahead. I write down my dreams, desires and goals.
Then I compile a list of ‘To Do’s’ to help me achieve them, which usually motivates me to get going.
To get busy weaving my dreams into reality.
But one thing 2020 has taught me is that, even my best laid plans can go awry. Although I had big goals for last year, the most important ones I achieved were not through planning or doing but through unforeseen circumstances and just going with the flow and ‘being’.
Spending more family ‘Us Time’ present in the moment and feeling relaxed and content just doing nothing, happened naturally during lockdown.
Having time to get both of my books completed and published arose from a misfortunate Covid-19 set of circumstances, forcing me to close my childcare business for months.
Appreciating friends and family more was another side effect of being kept apart from those I loved.
And being grateful for everything I had, such as my business, my home and family became enough to make me stop and see that- I already had everything I needed and wanted in life.
So today on January the 1st 2021, as I sit in the warm glow of sweet-scented candlelight, notebook and pen in hand, ready to plan 2021, there’s only one goal on my list this year and that’s simply to enjoy each and every moment with those I love.
What a boring world it would be if we
all liked doing the same things, the same way?
Without variety and differences
conversation would soon dry up.
Yet we still expect our children to
endure subjects that just don’t interest them.
One day I believe or should that be, I
hope, the school curriculums will include more variety and options. Offering
more choice for children, especially for those who aren’t naturally academic,
to enjoy their learning, doing things that inspire and motivate them.
Hidden Talents
A lot of current issues that are happening
on our streets today concerning children and crime, I believe, are due to
children not feeling unique and special as they are, with the abilities they’ve
been given. A lot of children don’t realise their true potential or hidden
talents because they haven’t been given the chance to discover them. Many children
feeling overlooked or rejected by a school system that makes them feel less
than what they really are.
Times have changed and the way we
teach and treat our children needs to change too.
We have to be more creative in our
approach. Allowing for more sporting and artistic talents to be a part of the
school curriculum, giving them equal emphasis and recognition as the more
traditional core subjects.
I mean who actually gets paid more, a
footballer or a mathematician?
You do the math? (I was never good at that subject in school…oops… Thanks to Mr Jones, there pops up my biggest self-limiting belief again!!!)
life is about being happy and healthy, not unhappy and wealthy!
Not all children aspire to be in
intellectual careers.
Most just want to enjoy what they do using their hands and creativity, such as flower arranging, making fancy cupcakes or building impressive structures, such as those that house schools. Life is about being happy and healthy, not unhappy and wealthy. Money and future aspirations aside, its about how our children are experiencing life right now at school.
All the GCSE’S in the world, won’t
empower our children in the future and make them happy. In today’s world they aren’t
even a guarantee of job security either.
Happiness is a state of being
cultivated from a young age.
We come to expect what we get and get what we expect as we grow older.
Happy optimistic children, who follow
their own dreams and enjoyment, succeed and find rare opportunities, that are otherwise
hidden from those clutching at hard earned grades, who settle for a safe job
for the sake of money, in fear of failure or lack.
Some children just can’t stand sitting
in a classroom, memorising facts that are of no relevance to them. However, this
doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be taught these subjects, alongside the things they
do enjoy learning.
We just have to find more interesting ways, to make those subjects that they dislike, more enjoyable. We can start by fuelling their passion. Encouraging them in those areas they enjoy and are good at, and by finding each child’s preferred learning method. Some simply prefer a more hands on approach rather than theory.
After all, life is about putting
learning into practice. Little use knowing what to do but not knowing how to do
it, is there?
So, money and future aspirations aside,
lets focus on the present and on how our children are experiencing life right
now.
A clock tick’s for all of us, silently somewhere. And one is ticking now for you.
Christmas 2013, my Brother Ken was diagnosed with terminal stage 4 Cancer.
Given only months to live, we were lucky to celebrate his birthday together in June 2015.
He died two months later.
Left my Brother Mark, middle my Brother Ken and myself on the right, enjoying our last meal together.
When someone you love dies, it puts everything into perspective. You realise, nothing else matters in life really, other than who you are with, and the love you give.
As the sand in the hour glass falls, and the days on the calendar move forward another year to 2019, what is it you still haven’t done yet?
What do you need more time to do, be or
have?
One day it will be too late to; travel
the world, spend more time playing with the kids, to write that book, take that
study course or do that job.
Too late to find that relationship that
you’ve always dreamed of.
And too late to tell someone you are
sorry or that you love them.
Too late to be the real you, the person
deep inside that you know you can and want to be.
And too late to live the life you
deserve to live.
Now is the time to act. Today, this minute, is the only time you
are promised.
Joan Rivers while she was alive, was once
quoted as saying
‘Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a
mystery, today is a gift, that’s why it’s called the present!’
The past is gone; the future is not
guaranteed, but today, everything is possible.
‘No time’ – is an excuse.
‘Later when the time is right’ – Is
procrastination.
Now is the time to act, before our
fears of time running out become a reality.
Time
Stands Still for No Man or Woman
It’s ironic how time only stands still, when something catastrophic happens in our lives.
Someone we love dies.
We receive a diagnosis from the doctor.
Our partner leaves us for someone else.
We lose our job or home.
Suddenly, it’s like we are frozen still in time.
For once, we stop being busy doing nothing, and
become still.
Bewildered by how everyone else is still busy
around us, getting on with their lives, oblivious to what is happening in our
world.
Abruptly we wake from our dream or nightmare,
crashing back to reality with an urgency, to do those things we always wanted
to do, but just never had enough time.
We are all just waiting our whole lives
for;
The time to be right.
To be ready.
To be old enough.
To have enough experience, knowledge,
support, money or time!
But when is the time ever right?
When will it be the right time for you
to follow your dreams, and live your life the way you want to?
What are you waiting for?
I welcome your comments on this topic.
Let me know what you want to be, do or have, and when you think the time will
be right or not for you, and why?
If you can hear that tick tock of the
clock then, don’t let time take your dreams.
