Under the weather?
If you can make space for some of the following in your day then you’ll be as right as rain and the world will be a better place:
- Merry-winkles
- Chortle-blurters
- Giggle-pips
- Chuckle-tums
- Fizz-snorts
- Cackle-flips
- Cheer-whizzers
- Joy-tooters
And how do we get to this point?
Easy, we adopt a carefree attitude and say “vive la bagatelle” and “long live nonsense!”
We say “dum vivimus vivamus” or “while we live, let us live” and fully embrace and make the most of our lives, by living in the present moment and seizing opportunities for enjoyment and fulfilment.
Another way to say this is “Dum spiro, spero; sed dum vivimus, vivamus” – While I breathe I hope, but while we are alive, let us live!
It’s about seizing the pleasures of the present day. It’s more common usage is of course carpe diem but everyone says that!
Living fully when you have cancer and all its complications is still possible. Living fully means balance and leaning into every moment of our lives, even the painful and uncomfortable parts. I’m not saying we ‘enjoy’ the pain but we take the rough with the smooth.
It is being in the moment, awake and alive and enjoying things right now. There are moments to be experienced everywhere we go, some tiny, some huge! Okay, most of life’s daily doings are small in nature but as Robert Breault once said,
Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.
Life is meant to be lived, not dreamed about or wished for. We have to get out there and start ‘doing’.
Being fully alive takes effort because it is moving and lively.
Living a full life means we are thriving, savouring life, relishing life, delighting in life and flourishing. Yes, even in illness!
We can experience this by filling up our lives with things that make us happy and doing fun, exciting, or positive activities daily. We can be sick and in pain but we can still top our lives up with things that make us happy.
Why worry about the past or postpone happiness to a distant future?
Deferred gratification is very overrated. ‘Save for later, savour later’ doesn’t work well when you have an incurable illness and a limited timeline (which we all have anyway!). It’s funny what an awareness of death can teach you about living.
Tomorrow is not guaranteed and so we need to think about what we really want to do now. Our biggest regrets will come from not trying.
We haven’t got time to play the long game. If you want to do something then make a decision and in true Arnie style, don’t delay, do it now! (P.S. I love the old PPI adverts featuring Arnie – see below!).
