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Carpe diem

Think this should have been my New Year's Resolution: 'seize the day'. Or even better in Horace's original - Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero - live for today and don't rely too much on the future.

I know I played the tease and didn't actually admit what my resolution, or resolutions were - suffice it to say that I haven't kept them ... yet. I still mean to, but the timing needs to be right, before I actually get round to them. Sounds a bit familiar? Putting it off - procrastinating - again! And why replace all my resolutions with carpe diem? Because everything I promised myself was about becoming a better me, not being a better me right now. And let's face it, procrastinators procrastinate in order to put off doing the things they either should do, or want to do. And I'm up there with the gold medallists of procrastination. Delay today what could be done in the future: I should be doing my tax return; I should sort the washing and tidy the house; I should edit the first chapter of my story after it struck me how silly I felt reading it to a dear friend yesterday, who gently told me it was too long, too wordy and - she didn't actually say this, but her fidgeting did - too boring to keep the reader turning the page; I should let Four-legged-friend in before his barking annoys the neighbour, and I should finish that bar of chocolate so that tomorrow can be the day I stop eating too much and start a new healthier life.

Does everyone have these problems? Perhaps perfectionists, sportsmen and bankers don't - perfectionists because their life is perfect so problem free, sportsmen because if they don't live for the match today, there will be no tomorrow, and bankers because surely none of them would have been bankers if they could have seen what was coming tomorrow.

For the rest of us though is carpe diem a step too far?

I have on the wall next to my desk a framed card titled Zen Dog. It states:

'He knows not where he's going
For the ocean will decide -
It's not the DESTINATION ...

...It's the glory of THE RIDE'

Maybe that's my form of carpe diem: enjoy today, because we don't know where we are going or what the future holds, but if we make the most of every day we'll sure enjoy the ride.

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