Describe your most ideal day from beginning to end.
If just for 24hrs you could be with those you miss the most, those who have gone before you who have left you with so many unanswered questions, this would be the perfect day.
To spend more time with loved ones, to walk another mile with them, hold hands and just look at that reassuring smile, how lovely would that be?
Talking with them to the point that comfort and assurance is restored and having those doubts and worries brushed away. To know they really are happy, well and worry free, and that you are loved and still looked after, wouldn’t that just be perfect?
The end of the day would come, you’d be upset for sure, you’d say gentle goodbyes, but this time you’d be smiling, what a difference to the last time you parted company. You could now live the rest of your life free and without the worries and doubts of your past to haunt you. No more grieving.
Never again to ask the question, “What if?” as you’d already have the answers.
We are not a traditional family, apart from birthdays and anniversaries there’s not much traditional that we do. We are pretty much a day to day gathering of randomness at its best.
We like what we like, we do what we do. And we enjoy each and every minute of it. Let’s be honest there is not a great deal to celebrate at this moment so you have to make the most of what you have.
A lot of people will probably be able to list a whole raft of traditions they adhere to that have been passed down through the generations, that is not so for me, as my family are somewhat dysfunctional in many aspects.
Not bad in intentions though, as we are quite spontaneous. We may pay the price in embarrassment and discomfort however we are able to laugh at our situation and ourselves and that is always acceptable. (In our eyes)
Don’t be too serious, as life will always bite your ass. Laugh and learn, live and love. Don’t take life so seriously, You’ll go far.
What do you enjoy doing most in your leisure time?
I thought that i may have answered this prompt in the past, but it seems i have not, well done WP, something original.
Like most people my leisure time is important, it’s only in the last two to three years that i have genuinely separated my free time from work time. I’ve definitely created a work – life balance and it was long overdue.
Taking just today for example, the wife has gone out to one of her ladies gatherings, I’m sitting here typing this, and very shortly i will be going out for a couple of miles of walking on what seems like a nice sunny winters day. We’ll have some breakfast when we return, i shall tinker on a project or two and then we will get ready a little later as we are out with family tonight for a “Burns night” supper, as my wife has Scottish roots from her mothers side of the family. No doubt this will involve a few drinks and should be a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
My leisure time is always the complete opposite to work, I don’t worry or stress, and any day away from work is treated like annual leave, yes it really is a holiday where i do whatever i want whenever i want, nothing is out of bounds, even if it is only for a day.
And thats how it should be. The old adage is that life is so short, live for today, don’t fret about tomorrow and just bloody well enjoy yourselves.
Sing, dance do whatever, don’t be embarrassed, the chances are that the people around you watching you have fun will never bump into you again. And if they do, they will remember you as someone just enjoying life.
What’s to lose? Just those ties that hold you down, just shake them off.
Good morning all. I’m having to get my thinking head on today for this one, not that I don’t have fun, but when put on the spot like this you have to think the answer over. There are probably things that I call fun that others out there would probably find nauseating and strange. Hey, we are all individuals and it would be boring if we were all the same. I’ll do a little list now but it’s not an exhaustive list, this is only a list of things I might do. I’m sure there are plenty other activities I can turn to:
Football: Been following my team Leicester City, through good and bad in excess of 30 years now. Unfortunately, now is a bad spell but that’s the trials of being a fan of any sport. And I love having a Balti pie and a pint, or in winter a nice hot cup of Bovril. It’s tradition.
Walking: to be honest haven’t done a lot of late but I’m already planning some nice walks to do in the next couple of months. There is nothing better than getting out there into nature and just drinking it all in. You have time to think and clear your mind, and it’s probably one of the best and healthiest activities you can get involved in.
Art: I love art and have a genuine appreciation of anyone that gives it a go. I’m really bad at it but I’m a trier. let’s be honest some of the worlds finest artists must have been bad at some point, it’s just I’m making an art of being bad. It gives me immense joy and satisfaction just creating something, so it can’t all be that bad….can it?
Holidays: My wife and I have found that since our dog passed away we now have a lot more time and availability on our hands. We are now taking a good few holidays and having more short breaks away. We love each other’s company and that’s a good place to be. We have holidays in Iceland, Uk and I believe we are planning one to the Caribbean later in the year. I say “I believe” as the wife is concocting a plan with her cousin for the big holiday at the tail end of this year.
Family days/nights: Our families are quite spread out around the Uk/Sth Africa/ Australia so it is rare to get a good gathering of the clans together. When it does occur as it did around July last year it is pure carnage, but good old fashioned raw fun and laughter. You need this every now and then to charge the memory banks. Here’s to the next one.
And that’s probably that, for now, I think these activities probably rate in my mind as the five things I most enjoy participating in, for fun.
Have a great day everyone, may peace and joy radiate throughout everything you do.
Sorry if that title upsets a few but that’s exactly how it is in my view. I’m in a business where we actively take on graduates who have come from universities who instantly come into these roles where many years experience is normally the requirement, prior to proceeding in that role.
I’m not knocking the student, but just because you’ve been in study for a number of years and now have a degree in political history, this does not help you in an engineering rich environment. It’s wrong. A leader needs life experience, and I think it is unfair to place an individual with no such experience in a role that needs this expertise along with long gained trust. They need to wait a while, get comfortable and get a few years experience under their belts.
I guess this is my companies fault for pretty much setting these individuals up to fail, but to be honest my company is pretty good at doing this with anyone it employs.
Apparently, and depending on where you search there are a number of traits that make a good leader, here are just five that I believe to be the basic qualities required.
Calmness
Clarity
Objectivity
Empathy
Decisiveness
I’d also add to that, “Common sense” you can be the brightest button on the earth but have not a single ounce of common sense. I have this in my own family circle it’s not a thing that can be taught, it’s a life learning event, some people have quite a bit of it still to do. It will come with age and experience.
That said we will always assist individuals parachuted in to these roles, however it can be hard on the individual and sometimes tough for them personally. So let’s expand the above list now to seven by adding these two further traits and calling it a day.
Common sense
Experience
I’ve experienced this now in excess of thirty years within my role. In that time I have had many Managers but I can count the good leaders on two fingers of one hand.
Anyone can be a manager, absolutely anyone it’s just an excuse to throw extra work and responsibility at someone with little remuneration, but only a rare few can be a good leader.
Can you share a positive example of where you’ve felt loved?
It was the 14th February 2018. Happy Valentine’s Day. I was told I had a cancerous tumour.
I was numb. We went out the following day for a lovely walk and all we did was discuss the elephant in the room throughout that whole trip. Even looking at the photos of that day I can see the false smile on my face as well as the concern on my wife’s.
False smile, worry in her eyes, not a good day
I went into serious withdrawal from life, as I knew it. I suffered severe depression. I didn’t share my feelings with the one person who knew me best. I kept it all to myself and it was all too much, I broke down. It was my problem, I’ll deal with it. But I couldn’t. I needed help.
That one person, sat beside me, she cried with me and she comforted me. She cuddled me. She stayed with me and she didn’t let me go.
It was at that point I experienced absolute unconditional love. There was a warmth that went through me, it’s as if she had taken all my worries and concerns and put them away for me, I’ve always said she’s an angel and she has this amazing ability to take away my problems and make my whole life better.
And I didn’t even share my feelings with her. That’s so wrong. I felt so guilty.
Guess what, I share absolutely everything with her now, nothing is held back, the silly issues, the concerns and worries. And you know what, her arms encase me again, that love flows through me as it always does and has done. I feel nothing but love, and it is my life’s task to ensure she feels just the same.
We beat the big C, or should I say it’s at the back of our minds and doesn’t overwhelm us anymore. When we talk about it we use the name “Fred”. The “C” word is no longer used in our home. It’s banished. It’s a horrible word, and my lovely lady did this to make our life less stressful.
Just like a record on repeat or just like a commercial radio station, or even like a moon orbiting a planet WP starts repeating its daily prompts, you could almost set a clock to it as it has such amazing regularity. This particular prompt was last listed on 23rd November 2024, not that long ago.
So unlike WP I will save the bother of re writing my answer, and just post links to the relevant blogs below. If you are busy and don’t have the time the simple answer is: Dogs are my domesticated favourite whilst Hedgehogs are my wild favourite. There, I’ve saved you some time and gotten myself some brownie points with you.
For anyone interested in hanging around here are some links to previous blog posts including that one for the same question in November last year.
These are just three of many posts on the subject. The last one really sums up how I feel after the loss of a wonderful family member. The struggle goes on.
My wife and I have always had a great understanding of what we class as memorable moments. We don’t even have to tell each other it’s memorable, we usually say to each other, “I’ve taken a picture”.
This isn’t a physical picture where you’ve lined up a camera for a snap, this is a mental picture, one of those special moments you store in your mind and in your life forever.
Akamas peninsula- Cyprus
One particular moment comes to mind one fine September day many years ago on the island of Cyprus. We were staying at a beachside hotel in the area of Chlorakas a few miles to the west of Paphos. We had gotten through a particularly bad period of our life and were away on holiday, just resting. This day we just grabbed a couple of chairs, a couple of drinks and then walked up on to a small hill to watch a glorious Cypriot sunset, and believe me there are not many better sights to view in your life. Here we sat alone, holding hands watching this glorious sight until the light faded and the dusk took hold. We continued just talking until it was time to make our way back for dinner. It is probably the most beautiful and peaceful moment I can ever remember, where for a fleeting moment we were the only two people on this wonderful planet enjoying a beautiful moment in time.
Mental pictures, that is what we collect, and we often both recollect these wonderful moments in our lives.
If you have wonderful memories, you need very little else in life, memories make you rich beyond your wildest dreams.
What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?
A long life would certainly appeal to me under certain conditions, just ensure my wife and family have the same gift of that long life. But they won’t will they? That said, the illness and frailty that nature bestows on you as you age does not come across as very appealing.
There is absolutely no doubt that I have enjoyed my life and time here and continue to do so. But if i lose the ability to move, to communicate and become totally dependent on other people’s time, then that might be reason to let the grim reaper know its time to arrive at my door, as I do not want to be that burden on anyone.
Life is a precious gift, of that there is no doubt, but in some cases that gift can become a burden. If I was to lose my social circle, this would be another reason to call time.
I’d imagine living an exceptionally long life could in some cases be viewed more as being given a sentence, that is how I see it, personally to me. To you and others it may come across as different and I respect that. However as you are reading my site, my views, this is how I feel.
I want a good life where I achieve all I wish to achieve, meet good people and have a damned good laugh. I don’t want to be the last to go, but I also don’t want to be the first. I’m not greedy, I know my time will come I just hope it’s not too soon, or too late.
Bit of a grim subject but these things need discussing.
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