In July, Danny Brown wrote If This Was My Last Blog Post and invited us to do the same.
I left a comment saying I would think about mine while I was resting up in rural France during the school holidays. And that is exactly what I did.
So here are my own thoughts….
While in France I read Ben Elton’s rather disturbing novel, Blind Faith, set in London post- global warming. The remaining dry land was massively overcrowded. No one was allowed privacy and every thought and feeling had to be shared via video blogs. (I can’t imagine where he got that crazy idea!)
In contrast I was living in the home of flute maker Phil Bleazey , in Marcilly, a small French village, where life was simple and wonderful.
Most farms had a small wind turbine, there were very few cars on the roads, which made cycling a total joy. There were no shops, so bread and warm croissants were delivered at 8am. Milk was collected from the farmer in a billy-can each morning, and baking was done in an outdoor, wood fired, bread oven. Thus ,for 2 blissful weeks, our lives consisted of reading, preparing food for however many popped in that day, drinking wine and lovely walks with the dog.
Now I have lived a very simple life before in rural Ghana and I must say that this was a whole lot more comfortable! But this experience showed me a very pleasing mid-way between a life of poverty in Ghana and our crazy fast, must have everything , life here.
Keep it simple My mantra is always keep it simple. Having Dyspraxia means simple systems are good for me, but too often I see people over complicating life and work, trying to cram too much in, always thinking they are missing out ,wanting bigger, better , faster and more. But the truth is that the more we complicate things the more we just create opportunities to make a big mess! Less is More my daughter and I always remind each other with our various creations.
Don’t get me wrong I think it’s really important to have dreams/ambitions -call it what you will – to get some direction as to what we want to achieve over the next 12 months/5 years/ before we die! Certainly I have my before I’m 50 list; pizza in Italy, a camper van, my living room finally redecorated! Through coaching I know what I have to do to make those things happen and I will achieve what I want by working to my skills, working ethically and with maximum, mutually beneficial collaboration.
But as this is my last ever blog I would like to ask a favour ;
Just stop for 5 minutes each day and take stock. Have a look around you. Notice the clouds and the flowers. Notice what is good in your life and count your blessings.
For most of us reading and writing blogs, the truth is we already have all we need. The rest is ‘want’; things that will add the cherry on top. Or do we sometimes, perhaps, just want things because we think everyone else has them?
Let’s check ourselves.. When did we last act out of pure random kindness? When did we last give without wondering what was in it for us?
My really big hope is that we can slow down our destructive behaviours so there will still be rain forests, polar bears and tigers living in the wild when my daughter’s grandchildren are born. I hope that my great grandchildren are able to breathe fresh air and that there are bees to make honey for their breakfast.
I hope we can have a big rethink and not end up with the world described in Blind Faith. I wish for us all that we choose how we live and not just follow, and that we choose to have a world where we recognise and value our interdependence with all the planet’s inhabitants.
So that’s what I would write!
Thanks to Danny Brown for inspiring this and I hope that in turn I get you thinking about what you would write if this was your last ever blog. Please let me know if it does .
Have a great day
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