Tomorrow Is Always Too Late

A Quick Preamble: I’ll start with, a confession…I’ve been around for more than half a century now, over 54 years in fact – not something i’d often admit to, and i’ve travelled half of our beautiful planet (well ok, there are some parts i’ve been to that are not quite so “beautiful”), by plane, train, helicopter, motorcar and motorcycle…in fact i’ve been riding motorbikes for what amounts to about 40 years and i’ve been travelling for pretty close to that same period of time. As you can imagine, i’ve seen, done and experienced many things, in many places, with many people of practically every nationality, colour and creed, and furthermore i’ve enjoyed every part of it – except for this one recurring thing… …and that’s standing beside the deathbed or the accident scene of a good friend or family member who is just about to pass from this life – and listening to his or her dying wishes. Cutting To The Chase: The amazing thing about it every time, no matter what their walk of life was i.e. care-giver, electrician, docker, doctor, lawyer, policeman or life-hardened biker, I never once heard: “i wish i’d treated my woman worse” or ” i wish i’d beaten my kids more” or “i wish i’d hurt more people” or ” i wish i’d broken more laws” or “i wish i’d taken plenty of drugs and become an alcoholic”… …in fact, they’ve generally all said things like “i wish i’d never divorced my soul mate” or “i wish i’d been a better dad/better mum” or “i wish i could have the time again”…it’s terribly sad witnessing all of these people, men and women, crying their final tears because they’ve only now realised the lost opportunities and their regret for not doing it all differently..! Here’s my question to you – and a question that i constantly keep in mind and ask myself: What regrets or exactly what (and how many) “I wish” moments do you think you may have at the end of your life..? Any at all..? Imagine lying next to your smashed up motorbike or inside your badly wrecked car or even in a hospital, with the curtains pulled around your bed giving you those last few minutes of privacy with a couple of your closest loved ones standing near and someone in the background saying: “we can only give as much comfort as possible”…what will you be wishing you could have changed or simply relived a better way..? Why don’t you just stop with the imagining and actually do something about it now…you’re not at that end point yet, so it isn’t too late is it..? Just make a list of all the things you’d change and start making those changes – or at least do something that negates the regret that you currently live with. It’s really not difficult…just like everything else that’s worth doing, if you just put in the effort you’ll be where you want to be before you realise it – and that’s golden..! So go live more, love more, live better, give more, be better and be good to others – including strangers…whatever you’ve done wrong, make it right somehow and understand that it’s NEVER TOO LATE to live a happy and fully fulfilled life – the stuff of dreams..! A Final Anecdote: Be bold, be adventurous, be you, love life and above all be somebody that’s loved and gives love freely and easily and you’ll absolutely, without any doubt achieve what an awful lot of people never do – a life of happiness, a life without sad regret so that you never have to “wish” for something different when it’s all but too late. * * *rnBefore you go, here’s a real nice poem from Alice Wyndham called “When Time Runs Out” – it’s a big help to read this when someone whom you loved or respected has gone before you could tell him or her exactly what you really felt: When time runs out and your heart needs to say so much morernBut the heart that should hear it is gone now foreverrnAnd you are left with a raw nagging sore. Then reach for your paper, your pen and your candlernAnd write though your heart it would burst.rnNo fears now restrain you; no judgment; no mock;rnWrite of your best, of your worst. When your soul is then drained of its deepest regretrnThen hold your true paper to the candle’s clear flamernThat thought-laden smoke might reach to that heartrnAnd ashes, a symbol of love, yet remain.