We're Born, Then We Die. Everything In Between Is The Adventure.

Sometimes a glass of wine whilst listening to a poignant album gets you thinking.

Tonight it's I Leave You This by Overhead, The Albatross, an album we reviewed last year, one that brought tears to my eyes. Inspired by the passing of a close friend, it's the kind of record that reinforces an absolute belief: life is what you make it.

As we debate on the Broadway veranda, or more recently outside the Lord Roberts, after a bit of Pinot Noir, I often say: we're born and then we die. Everything in between is easy.

I know life isn't easy. But in the same breath, life is what you make it. It's about time, and what you do with this finite amount of it.

The Clock Starts Ticking

We don't get long. We charge through each day. A blizzard of paying bills, working, loving, living, dealing with shit. But then we do get time back. Stolen moments. And my philosophy is this: it's one big adventure.

"It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it." — Seneca

The Roman Stoics understood this two thousand years ago. Seneca wasn't talking about hustling harder or optimising your morning routine. He was talking about presence. About not sleepwalking through the days you've been given.

The Small Wins and the Big Ones

It's about the small wins and the big ones. The small wins: sharing a glass of wine with your mates. Cooking your favourite dish and getting completely immersed in the process. Listening to music at a gig, or on your sofa. Watching people laugh and smile. Seeing your kids start realising they are also alive, developing their own personalities, becoming their own people.

Having those small moments to absorb. Without being cliché, watching the sun rise and set. These are not insignificant things. These are the things.

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" — Mary Oliver

This Isn't a Life Lesson

This isn't a life lesson. This isn't a "look at me." This is a factual statement: as soon as we're born, the clock starts ticking.

Those things you worry about that haven't come to fruition? They're probably not worth the worry. The Stoics understood this. Those who study Tai Chi have similar philosophies. Nietzsche, despite his reputation for heaviness, spoke of amor fati, the love of fate. Not passive acceptance, but an active embrace of your life as it unfolds.

"He who has a why to live can bear almost any how." — Friedrich Nietzsche

Cry Havoc

I think about my English teacher, Mr Johnson, who once had a go at me for being terrible at coursework during my GCSEs. "You won't amount to anything," he told me.

I replied: "Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war."

"You're quoting Shakespeare at me!" he screamed.

I didn't mean it in the sense Shakespeare meant, or even Mark Antony. I meant it in the sense of: what will be, will be. Let the chips fly. I do what I do. I take your points onboard, sir, but life has a way of getting in the way of plans. It will all work out. A mental positive mindset.

I think Mr Johnson secretly loved and hated me in equal measure. I raise a glass to you.

When People Leave

The track "Paul Lynch" has come on now. Ten minutes of beautiful music. It opens with: "When people leave and have to go, sometimes it's too hard to say goodbye."

It is. My mum passed in 2022. I get it.

But in that intimate moment, a week or so before she passed, she said something that has stayed with me: "I know you live your life, and I wish I could have done many other things too."

Our most valuable commodity is time.

"You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think." — Marcus Aurelius

The Pursuit of Happiness

Time to love. Time to be creative. Time to experience. Time to enjoy the wins, however big or small.

What the fuck am I going on about, you may be thinking.

I'm going on about taking the time to absorb and appreciate. To just be. To write that book. To paint that picture. To take that calculated risk. To love your family and friends fiercely, because we only have a limited time on this planet.

As Aristotle once said, the whole purpose of human beings is the pursuit of happiness. Not fleeting pleasure. Eudaimonia. Flourishing. A life well-lived.

Happiness is what puts a smile on your face.

Take the Time Back

So here's to the Pinot Noir, and to Overhead, The Albatross. Here's to Mr Johnson. Here's to mum. Here's to the debates outside the Lord Roberts, and the small wins, and the big ones, and the whole beautiful mess of being alive.

Take the time back, people.

"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience." — Eleanor Roosevelt