I’m not a big philosopher, well actually I’m not a big thinker but hey sometimes thought is overrated! Tomorrow is day one of another three week window of ‘opportunity’. Hopefully during this period I will get the opportunity to confront the legal system and understand the timeline of my progression back to life as I knew it. It is a strange, and somewhat counterintuitive, scenario where you desperately hope for the chance to do something that you equally desperately don’t want to do, funny old world eh?
I read an interesting piece whilst browsing the superb and sublime musings of Lesley Carter click here , Lesley doesn’t tend to share links anymore than I do but she had shared this click here and it struck a chord. That’s two worthwhile links shared, must be me done for a year at least. The list of thirty things is really valuable, its nothing you don’t know but hey sometimes a memory jog is good right? It doesn’t take long to read and I guarantee that you will gain something from the effort. I would like to add a twist of my own, well I would wouldn’t I? Picture yourself and your friends as you read it, I was astounded how many of the items screamed out to me for friends and that is, in part why I am sharing.
I believe that we all tread our own path, blame is a negative emotion that serves nobody. The person blaming wastes their time and the person blamed is, for the most part, unaware. Who cares? Each moment of time that you live is a historical thing, if its happened then by definition it is in the past. Where do you want to spend your energy? Studying the past or grasping the future, no contest right? Just like blame excuses are pointless, if you’re crap at something or couldn’t be bothered I don’t care why excuses only serve the author. If I make a mistake, and I’ve made many, then they are mistakes or bad decisions shit happens, tomorrow is another day. My life is the result of my decisions, my failures are the result of my decisions but my successes are all the sweeter for being the results of my decisions.
I am not burdened with a family network, it’s just not something that I do. I am in fact a self proclaimed orphan, I don’t have am extended family to support me nor do I have one to criticise me. Every step that I take, I take in my shoes, by my own volition, I may not be able to control how many steps I take but I do choose the direction. I would like to add one point that seems to be missed by so many people today, celebrate small achievements. Life is not a television show, it’s not a movie, oddly it’s real life. Things don’t happen overnight but every step that you take to your goals is a victory, a success, an achievement. If you measure your success by every move towards your goal then you will keep the faith.
In everything there is a positive. My accident brought me a lot closer to some real friends and reminded me of others, love you guys. Rather than see the whole experience as a horrible grinding delay to life’s plans I see every day as a step closer to the plan. I remain fully committed to my pub, there is not a doubt in my mind that it will happen, it is as part of me as the metal that holds my hands on! So times are tough, look each day square in the eye and tackle it head on, somewhere out there is your future the rest is just trivia.
On a mechanical note some of you may remember the humour of leaving hospital, some 15 months ago now, and finding beer with twist off caps in the fridge. Well that is the gift that keeps on giving to this stubborn old man I can tell you. My hands are close to lacerated from trying to open the same brew this weekend but I will not give in! If I could video the experience I would because this is mechanics for beginners. I have very poor grip because of my rearrangement of my hands, which means we are down to levers and the bottle is the larger. So bottle turns cap in hand and cap chews skin because hand can’t resist the turning moment. So I attempted a different grip, kind of overhand, bad idea the sound was astonishing as elbows, shoulders, wrists and even hands cracked and popped.
The bottle survived this acoustic onslaught and stubbornly beat me into using a tea towel, even then it took a few minutes of cursing and maneuvering. That’s the thing with small gains I will not use a bottle opener, as I did 15 months ago, I will fight and beat every bottle because I can. So maybe I can’t open a bottle with a deft flick of the wrist but I’m one step up on the disabled idiot that took ten minutes to fight the cap off with a bottle opener, little victories.