Really inspiring words!
The last year of my life has been a really great one. I’ve spent more money than I care to remind myself of; met some truly amazing people, traveled the world, laughed myself crazy, smiled myself silly, drunk myself dizzy; shared the best of times with friends, family, and my second half, and learned more about myself than I ever did in the previous 20; fallen in love; discovered those things that are the most important to me, and learned to never put them at the mercy of those which do not matter; slept in a lot of strange places, in strange beds, and managed to always feel “at home”; been given some wonderful opportunities, (and probably missed out on some even better ones!), most of which I have declined, to do utterly pointless but endlessly rewarding things; tried to live as the person I so honestly admire, when I look at those people that inspire me, day to day, to be the best that I can be, and to live with increasingly less dependence on anything in this life, but faith, hope and love.
I was always afraid of growing older- each passing year bearing an elevated sense of mediocrity, and the worry that I’m never doing enough with my life, however hectic my schedule, brimming my planner, busy my day, or exhausted I would find myself. It seems finally apparent to me that real achievement and “success” are rarely tangible.
Pursuing that which you love, understanding, respecting, sharing and embracing yourself (as flawed, yet beautiful), spending every single day you’re given being a positive in a world that will try its hardest to bring you down, and most importantly, being unafraid to love (even if you aren’t loved in return), stand up for those things that really make a difference to you, and give every day your best shot- however rainy, lonely, hungover, bad-hair bearing, or just really hard, it might be. Because as I read somewhere, once, and have kept with me since: “You think when you wake up in the mornin’ yesterday dont count. But yesterday is all that does count. What else is there? Your life is made out of the days it’s made out of. Nothin’ else.”