It’s birthday season once again in the Lazarus household. April 26th (my wife Soli), May 1st (my daughter Rosie), 2nd May (yours truly), and 4th May (my son David). A year older, but are we are a year wiser?
I’m going to get all melancholy for a moment and suggest to you that whilst birthdays are a lovely way to celebrate with family and friends, they are just another day on the calendar.
The older I get the more I realize that each day we are alive and have free will is a blessing.
Not in a religious way you understand, but in a way that makes me grateful for all the things I have in my life.
Now my life is far from perfect and has hardly been free from trouble and stress, but I am always fully aware of all the sacrifices that have been made by previous generations, that enable me, my family and the wider community to have chances in life that could only be dreamed of say in my grandparents and parents’ generation.
We are on this tiny planet as weeny little specs in the great universe, that has been around for billions of years, and as much new knowledge as we uncover and learn each day, we still only understand a teeny fraction of what makes the world tick. We are bombarded with content until our head feels like it’s about to explode. Yet there is always more.
Often, we live our lives in a bubble.
Head down on our mobile. Earplugs in. Social media on. Obsessing about our looks. Our status in society. What others think of us. How much money we have? Comparing shiny new objects. Fretting about body image.
The great Stoics were always aware of their place in the great Cosmos and knew that at the end of our days we all return to dust.
So much of the material things we yearn for are B.S!
This is not something to be sad about or even scared of if we live every day, full and fulfilled, doing the things we love. Helping others. Supporting others when they need it most. Holding fast to our values. Only you know what your values are, and you probably know when you fall short of upholding them, as you may feel a bit out of sorts.
Since last June when I launched Your London Legacy podcast, I did so for several reasons. First, I love meeting new and inspiring people. I find it uplifting and rewarding. I love their stories. We all have a story to tell. I love London. So, getting out and meeting my guests in their home or place of work, or somewhere wonderful in London is a joy for me.
I wanted to stretch myself by doing something new.
Something challenging that I’d never done before. I wanted to prove to myself that I was not too old to learn a few new tricks. I wanted to share the amazing stories of others so that my legacy could be theirs too for generations to come. So far so good.
I think what I’m trying to say is, as lovely as birthdays and anniversaries are, treat each day as a special day, because they are, or at least can be. My world of insurance claims is all about risk, but we know that as much as we try to take precautions, stuff will happen that will knock you back, and it will. We just don’t know when.
Don’t wait and let the grass grow under your feet to live the life you deserve.
Don’t measure yourself against others. Just try and improve yourself, say 1% each day, so when your next birthday comes around, you can look back and say “what a year that was”. Bring it on the next.
Until next month
