You Only Die Once

I really missed writing. I had ambitious plans on how to spend my two weeks off work during Christmas (I even made a list), and most didn’t come to fruition, including getting back into writing. But that’s life. Accidents, mishaps, chores, and chaos are all part of life. And life gave me and the hubby the flu on New Year’s Eve, so we spent all week moving from the sofa to bed and vice versa with very little energy to do anything other than eat soup and watch telly.

Today I felt slightly better, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to write something. There is a lot I feel is worth sharing, lessons I learned over the last couple of years, such as my injury and NOT running my first marathon, despite the hard, sweaty, painful preparation, how I loved the training sessions I designed and delivered at work about mental health at the workplace, what I’ve learned so far from my volunteer work with the Association of the Protection for Mental Health, and much more. But my brain is still foggy and writing anything from scratch feels impossible, so I finished a post I started writing back in September, about a book I was reading at the time. I felt it was appropriate, as it reminded me again that life is too short, and lately, I’ve wasted a lot of my precious time feeling unproductive, tired and unmotivated. A great reminder for all of us who might fall victim to the ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ pressure.

I’ve been reading this book, ‘You Only Die Once’ (How to make it to the end with no regrets) by Jodi Wellman, which talks about facing our fear of death by reminding ourselves that we are mortals and we can die at any point and that perhaps we are not scared of dying, but reaching the end of our life without having really lived. It’s a brilliant book; it shakes you to your core, forcing you, in a good way, to think long and hard about how happy you are with your life, and how to enjoy it as much as possible with what you have. It actually mentions so much more; it’s hard to summarise in a few words. Some of the thoughts that stayed with me were letting go of hobbies or interests you may had, but you don’t like anymore, letting go of the person or life you had a few years ago, stop hanging out with people with whom you have nothing in common anymore and don’t help you grow as a person. The book doesn’t only focus on how to get rid of old habits and dead friendships, but also how to cherish your relationships with loved ones and friends who bring out the best of you and still value their friendship, pick up again activities you love and spark up your creativity, but because you let routine and ‘busyiness’ interfere, you stopped doing them and of course, try new things as well, which actually helps your brain remain active.

It made me think of why I don’t play my guitar anymore. It’s probably one of the activities I love to do, but I’ve abandoned. I also write far less often, for various reasons. These are some of the activities I want to re-start.

I also felt sad, realising that I’ll probably won’t get back to my UK life any time soon, though I often still feel that I haven’t adapted to Cypriot life, and I probably never will.

One of the greatest reminders, though so far was how to break up the dreaded, soul-destroying daily routine, focused on work, chores, and social obligations. Anything other than creativity, fun and laughter. I (and maybe you don’t either?) can’t afford to quit my job and book a ticket to Costa Rica, I don’t have the money to pay for a PhD or another qualification, and I can’t make huge changes right now. And that’s absolutely fine. I can make small changes to spice up my daily life and improve the life of people around me. One step at a time.

At the end of the day, as scary as it feels to be reminded about it, we are all going to die, and since we don’t know how and when, let’s start living again.