SWEETIESAL

CARPE DIEM

Anyone else find themselves wishing time away?

'Just a few more days to get through...'

'Good things come to those who wait...'

'Ugh I am so over this month already, I can't wait until...'

'One day my prince will come...' (CHEESY AF.)

I am guilty of this too. I am not professing to be some sort of seize the day guru but it has occurred to me that I have spells of wishing the time away and I am trying to do something about it, be present and enjoy the here and now.

One of the ways I have found to be quite helpful is to practice gratitude more proactively. I attended a course at work on building resilience and having a gratitude journal or trying to make a point of acknowledging what you are grateful for every day is actually really quite powerful.

Everyday you get the gift of 86,000 seconds. Have you used one to say thank you?

I bought myself a gratitude journal from Amazon - I was anticipating having to use a notepad and create it myself, but no, Amazon's got your back there! It is specifically for things you are thankful for and asks you to write what awesome things have happened to you in the week. It can be difficult to get started as you feel a bit repetitive but I can already feel the benefits of doing this. I have written about mental health before and whilst I am in a much better place there will always be those days when you get knocked a little and just need a little reassurance that your life isn't shit.

Whatever makes your soul happy, do that.

I hear friends complain about being fed up or viewing their other half wanting to be like their parents as being the absolute worst as they don't seem to do very much, but I just think being happy and grateful for what you have is the healthiest way to live your life. You make your own excitement and just because your other half views being happy as simply having someone you love by your side, being healthy and doing fun things doesn't make their happiness any less valid.

I am really ambitious career wise and that makes me happy. But if someone views work as a means to an end, that's also ok! I also don't think it is any secret that I ultimately want to settle down and have kids, but do I think less of my friends or family who don't want to have kids? Of course not!

It's easy to look at the insta-perfect lives that are presented to us and feel pangs of envy but it's not always real. You have to make peace with yourself and your lot otherwise you will struggle to ever feel truly happy.

Don't wait for everything to be perfect before you decide to enjoy your life.

This last quote is one I need to pay attention to. I got to do a 'drivers' questionnaire at work and my primary driver was 'please people' and my secondary was 'be perfect' which is all around getting pleasure about things being or appearing to be perfect.

For ages I felt bad about the fact that I was getting older, didn't own my own home, didn't have a significant other, nor one on the horizon, which meant kids felt pretty far out of reach. But in doing that I completely discounted the fact that I have done really well in my career and without sounding big-headed feel like I am a really good friend and quite funny to be around. The rest will come when it's meant to.