On life, family and friends

This week has been one of reflection upon life, death, love and laughter.  It has been one where I have realised that to be able look back upon one’s life and say you have truly lived you have to ensure you live each day as if it was your last.

That does not mean that every day you have to get up and jump out of a plane with nothing but a flimsy piece of fabric strapped to your back or party until you puke.

So what does it mean to make the most of every day?

To get to the answer I had to take a quiet moment to identify what were the most important things to me in my life. I think this list is a work in progress rather than a set-and-forget arrangement.

Obviously top of my list, as a mother, are my children.  They are my world, my favourite reason to smile and the source of a feeling of love so strong it is almost tangible.  My husband is right up there with them, even with his faults (and none of us is perfect) he is a good man and I am grateful that he chose me. He can still make me laugh until it hurts. He even takes it good naturedly when I hack in to his Facebook and post status updates that make him look like a sop....whatta guy.

My focus this week has turned to friends.  I am unbelievably blessed to have so many.  They are scattered all over this beautiful country of ours and all over the world as well.  My friends make me want to be a better person, in fact I am a better person just by being the recipient of their gift of friendship.

We stood together this week to say goodbye to one of us.  We weren’t all in the same room, we weren’t all in the same state, nor the same country but we stood united in our grief, together across the world.  What an amazing bond.  As I stood there trying to say a few words about our Kylie, and doing a very wobbly job of it, I could feel you all there with me, helping me, helping each other.  Our bond actually strengthened and we all knew it, sensed it.

Friends don’t care if you don’t look immaculate all the time, friends don’t care if your house is a mess, friends allow you to be you, warts and all.

Friends are always there when you need them, no matter what. When you feel you can’t go on, they carry you until you can do it for yourself again.

So getting back to how you live each day to the maximum for me, comes down to these simple things:

1.       Hug your family and tell them how much you love them. Often.

2.       Make an effort every day to be in contact with your friends so they know you love them and appreciate them.  You can’t always drop in for a cuppa because of time or distance but email, social network, text, Skype, call. Something, anything. There really is no excuse with all this technology available to us. Even if you just hit “like” on something they say on Facebook, they know you were thinking of them in that moment.

3.       Make time for yourself (the most difficult it would seem).  Allow yourself some time each day, no matter how little to just be YOU. The person your family and friends actually like. Put aside the myriad of roles we have for a moment and just be.

4.       Laugh and do it every chance you get.  It releases those feel good endorphins!

5.       Stop procrastinating. Put aside the excuses, the fear, the laziness, whatever reason you have for not doing or saying something you really want to and just take that step. Nobody ever moved forward by standing still

Happy Australia Day!