The Now

‘With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now’ ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Can I really do this?

NaBloPoMo is a challenge. Post everyday for a month. Sounds easy right? After much deliberation I decided I would put my writing skills to the test and throw myself into this new project.

Somewhere in my mind is an inexhaustible supply of blog ideas, some jotted down in the middle of the night when sleep evades me, others when my head is in the clouds staring aimlessly into space on public transport. I think little things you experience and accomplish everyday are blog-able if you give them enough thought and think about them from different angles. My arch nemesis is time. I find time flows erratically for me, I’ll have a few days of leisure and then all of a sudden I’ll have a bunch of things to do and my writing/correspondence takes a backseat. I’m still sorting myself out in this new city and long for a schedule to settle into.

Some of my blog ideas become drafts lying dormant in notebooks or a few lines on some paper scraps. Maybe never to be read again. Maybe Nablopomo will be the kick to share them.

The concept is ‘NOW’. The theme is flexible and daily writing prompts are given, how rigidly I’ll adhere to them remains to be seen. This theme could easily be moulded into what I want to write about; about living in the moment, the difference between then and now, focusing on the present and now or never – the steps towards being fearless. The reminder to do things today and not tomorrow. NOW is happening every moment of the present, that alone makes the theme workable.

I think this will be a tough challenge. I would never compromise the quality of posts for quantity and I will try to maintain a balance and continue to inform, question, ponder and entertain myself and hope the posts affect others in the same way. I will probably write 2-3 substantial posts a week and use the other days to display snippets of my life and photos I’ve intended to upload or share for ages.

Time sped forward

‘Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life’ ~ Mary Oliver.

Do you need a reminder that life is short and precious? Maybe this is it.

How do you feel? These are my musings.

Inspired? It reminds me that our time on earth is fleeting and we need to make the most of our finite time here. Live in the moment and capture it before life rolls on unstoppably. Promise to have a ‘seize the day’ attitude. My life so far, nearly a quarter gone, captured in the first 30 seconds of the film – a great deal achieved but still full of so many aspirations and so much more to accomplish. It adds a visual to the saying that life is a journey, definitely don’t lead yourself to believe there is a destination or you’ll never enjoy the passage. It makes me want to blow caution to the wind and take those trips I’ve been waiting for.

Sad? I know that we’re getting a bit older all the time, it’s just hard for me to fathom. When I was 13, I couldn’t imagine being in my twenties and it’s happening. I wonder what we’ll look back and think of our 20-something selves when we’re a golden age?  I want to be proud of myself and be glad I didn’t waste a second. I hate the reminder that the clock doesn’t stop for those around us either, but it also makes me appreciate every moment I have with them. My grandad is a one of these reminders, losing him reminded me that no one is here forever, it made that sad expression real to me. Before then I wished myself naive enough to not even contemplate it.

Wonder? It’s strange looking at photographs of someone over the years , watching them grow in leaps and bounds before our eyes. But when you’re continuously around someone you know they’ve grown up, but it feels harder to confront the difference. To pinpoint those changes. If that makes sense? Something that troubled me about the Canada move, that time gap, would it be more noticeable that my parents had got older in my absence? I wonder if when couples get older, in their minds, do they really still see each other as when they were falling in love and in their youth?

Sarasota, FL - My wonderful parents.

And now obviously this advert neglects that the transition through life is more often than not non-linear with unpredictable events. Not everyone will or wants to take the education-job-married-kids route. Some critics thought this advert was pretty sexist with the woman having her life mapped out in the clichéd way. Naturally everyone’s pursuit of happiness is different. Love and joy are what make life worth living, whether it involves the white picket fence or not.

(Up – the film my boyfriend refers to as ‘The greatest movie since Wall-E but add in a tonne of sad’)

I understand that moments define us, but it’s becoming more clear to me it isn’t just the few and mighty but the little ones that matter.