Youths a mask… August 15, 2018

‘Youths a mask…but it don’t last, live it long and live it fast’.

Lyrics from some long-forgotten Rod Stewart song if memory serves me well. Yet there’s something very pertinent in those words. I’ve found myself reminiscing of late about my life and what I’ve done with it …and where the fuck it’s all gone.

Jeez I’m bloody 57 ffs – how did that happen? Somebody once said to me that time just flies by as you get older and boy were they right.

2018?…. Where the hell has that gone …it’s August yet in my head I’m thinking it feels like the year has only just begun – yet Mrs. C is already planning Christmas …aaaarrrgghhhh.

It was twelve months ago that I had my first heart attack. A day that’s easy to remember as it was my daughters 29th birthday. She was phoned early in the morning by her mother not to wish her ‘happy birthday’ but rather to say that ‘your dads in hospital undergoing surgery to repair damaged arteries in his heart’. Not the greatest birthday gift I’ve ever organised.

One thing a heart attack will do for you is make you think about where your life is heading. It is definitely the proverbial ‘wakeup call’. I’ve always had a bit of a cavalier attitude to life – ‘fuck it your only here once’ – has been my rallying call when faced with a night out and a few too many cocktails and maybe a brandy and a desert and another whisky …

I think I’ve always thought – ‘I don’t want to die wishing I’d tried …whatever…’ so I’ve always gone for it …

But putting me to one side for a moment.

What worries me more is younger people wasting the life that they have. I see so many people just stuck inside on their computers playing games when there’s so much more that they could be doing.

Younger people in general seem more restrained and introverted than they used to be. I grew up during the punk era where if you didn’t like something you did something about it.

I hear young people all the time complaining that they aren’t ‘happy’ yet they seem to just put up with their misery and yet do nothing to change things.

This is it guys – this isn’t a rehearsal – this is your life…. if you don’t like it – do something about it before it’s too late. Once you’ve got a huge mortgage and children and two dogs and a cat it’s hard to change what you’re doing. Financially it’s just not feasible – far too many ‘outgoings’ for you to suddenly stop and make a change.

Is it because there’s too much choice, or is it the complete opposite – with not enough choice?

Are people pushed into making decisions as to where they are going in life before they are old enough to make the decision? Once you are on a certain track it’s very difficult to stop and say – ‘hang on I’m not liking where this is heading’.

In my day young people that changed their minds about which university course they were doing were treated as pariahs who were indecisive and were a bit ‘lost’. Looking back at them now I can see that they were incredibly brave in making a life changing decision because they weren’t happy.

I think what I’m on about here boiled down is – you’re only here once.

So, make the most of it – don’t sit around complaining about shit – do something about it.

Coz once you’re an old fucker like me you’ve lost your chance.

Mike C