There is no try

“But what if I try and fail?”

“Well, that’s better than if you’ve never tried at all.” She laughed and her smile spread wide across her face.

“The only way you’ll change something is if you take the risk and do something you’ve never done before.

Keep in mind that sometimes, to go from a bad place to a better place we need to go through a worse place. It’s a paradox, but see it as a necessary evil. If you don’t fall flat on your face, you won’t know what it feels like if you fail. Once you learn that, you’ll be more determined to succeed and…well, fly! Make sense?”

He was timid. But perhaps that was the problem to begin with. He hadn’t developed enough confidence to cope with this world. Often, we need to suffer, to crash and fall, in order to get up stronger, wiser and more stubborn to make things work.

There is no try; just do.

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Fireworks all year

©MCD

Do you know why we use fireworks, sparkles and bangs to welcome the New Year? It stems from centuries-old traditions that sound and light made evil spirits afraid and were thus used to ward off evil.

We too hope that by filling the final month of the year and the subsequent first of the new one with lights and glitter will help bring luck, fortune, prosperity, health and blessings to our life.

Have you noticed how we light up inside and the world seems happier with all the festive decorations during the Christmas and New Year season?

We don’t need much to be happy and bloom. But we often forget that we are the creators of our well-being and happiness.

So let’s make a resolution this year to keep ourselves as happy as we begin the new months, to spread love just as we wish to receive it, and to keep the hope alive that everything will work out for the best with new adventures lying ahead.

Happy New Year everyone!

Passionate work

There is a saying that if you do what you love you won’t have to work a day in your life.

But it’s not that easy you know.

At it’s usually not as simple as that either.

Because often what we enjoy doing the most is not something that pays enough to sustain the constantly rising cost of living nowadays.

It’s nice to be able to begin the day joyfully, energised and motivated because you know you’re doing something that delights you, something you’re good at and you’re passionate about.

But we often need to pass through many stages before we create the circumstances that will enable us to do so.

We need to have experienced the ‘real world’, what it is like to be a simple employee, to be badly paid, exploited, and censored, in order to appreciate the ‘good ones’, those who are willing to offer you an opportunity to emerge, to bud, to develop your skills and to evolve into everything you aspire to be.

The fact that it’s not easy to do something doesn’t mean it is impossible. It just needs patience (which we very often lack), commitment, great optimism, believing you will succeed, and above all, never giving up.

Open road

©Matteo Paganelli

There is a risk with being too comfortable with where you are. You become too complacent and too lazy to budge. Like still water in a swamp, you become stagnant as the world around you evolves.

The problem is, we too often take things for granted. A situation to which we’re accustomed does not necessarily mean that it will forever remain so. Circumstances change, often in the blink of an eye, yet no matter what we tell ourselves, we’re never wholly prepared for any of it.

Confusion is followed by an anguish of how to proceed. We need a plan. That’s what we pressure ourselves to have. But life doesn’t always work in a scheduled manner. Sometimes we just need to take things as they come.

Consider this, however: Without a destination, you’re never late. Because you have nowhere precise to go. You’re always exactly where you’re supposed to be.

Or like the cat in Alice in Wonderland said: If you don’t know where you’re going any road will get you there.

Perhaps we need to see the positive in every situation. A step-back always rattles you to change.

We simply need the courage to move ahead with more experience and determination than before.

Don’t be afraid to start over; you might like your new story.

Round the bend

© Dale Rogerson

“You should always change gear before the curve”.

“Push the brake a little beforehand too”.

“Don’t go rushing in full-speed”.

He was a good driving instructor. Aside from the fact that he would usually tell her all the things she shouldn’t do, rather than what she should.

“Safety above all”, was his motto.

If she could drive safe, experience would allow her to follow her intuition when the time was right.

At least, that’s what he told her.

It was a bit like taking the road and let it lead you places.

You never know what’s hiding round the bend.

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Truth in snow

©Dale Rogerson

They met in a snowstorm. Or rather, they truly saw each other in one. Because you never really know a person until you experience something challenging together. Until you witness a side that is not usually seen. The weaknesses and genuine personality. Things you often try to hide to the outer world.

The snowstorm was that crisis. But it was also the opportunity to come closer. It was when they acknowledged they had more in common that originally believed.

It wasn’t just friendship that joined them.

It was something deeper.

It took a white cloud for them to see it.

Also part of Friday Fictioneers

An endless world

There is a world out there
Waiting to be explored,
Anticipating our emotions and laughter,
Opening up endless possibilities,
Offering chances and opportunities.

There is a universe out there
Laid out with stars for our dreams,
Paving the way for our desires,
Shining the light for us to create,
Proposing a myriad of ideas for us to thrive.

There is a whole planet
Expecting to be lived,
To be tasted,
To be heard,
To be conversed,
To be enjoyed.

Yet we are obstructed by the world we create in our heads,
The one that makes us linger on the edge of impossible,
The one that holds us back from everything we can see, be and do.
We create our own borders and stop ourselves from living life as it should.

There is an entire world out there
Waiting for us;
All we have to do
Is move.

The perfect white

© Dale Rogerson

When you have a blank page staring back at you, there is something wanting about it. If you consider it, it’s full of opportunities, prospects, potential. The possibilities and stories with which to fill it up are endless.

There is something intrinsic about the colour white. It has class, elegance, purity, authenticity. It is like a diamond in the rough. It can be anything.

Perhaps that’s why we associate white with beginnings. Because it stores so much hope.

That’s why snow makes everything look pretty. Because it covers life’s imperfections and makes even wilted flowers look full of life again.

Also part of Friday Fictioneers

What we do with time

“If you were magically given more hours in a day, would you take them? Would you extend the same day, drawing it out for longer in the hope that you’d accomplish everything you aim for when you wake up in the morning?”

“But would you really?”

“Would you what?” he asked confused. She had hustled his hustle.

“Would you manage to accomplish everything? Because, if you think about it, do you fail to achieve more because of lack of time or because you don’t exploit the time you have effectively?”

It is a question we all pose to ourselves at some point or other.

It’s not the time that’s the problem. It’s how we waste it. Or rather, how we don’t take advantage of it as best as possible.

Life’s wonder

©Alicia Jamtaas

But why now?

Because we don’t know what lies ahead. Because we can’t even be sure there is a future any more.

Because if not now, there will never be a better time.

If anything, life has shown us that we need to seize every single moment, each opportunity to do something different that may prove life-changing, to take a step that may lead to somewhere new and unexpected.

Things may seem broken and you may feel lost. But if you’re awake to life’s wonder, you’ll realise nothing truly happens by chance.

Just be open to the possibilities that await.

Also part of Friday Fictioneers