NEVER THE CLICHÉ
March 19, 2022
Every morning, for 19 years*, this column has come out of me – my computer spread/shared thoughts and frustrations. I’ve told some and worked on my writing craft. It’s valuable, fun, and much cheaper than therapy …
Today is the last day of that 19th year, and tomorrow starts another spring, another year, of spilling onto this page every day.
For 6,940 consecutive days, a few words (and some days, too many) tossed against the wall – some stick, some viewpoints resonate within my peer group.
I’ve often wondered, and occasionally I’m asked, why I keep doing this.
I don’t want to stop.
That’s the simple answer. I know I could. But if I did, it would be just another thing in life I started but didn’t continue.
I’ll stop when I run out of words or blank pages.
Likely not before that.
Some people have asked me why I keep doing this. Of many answers I give, the one I enjoy most is when I ask, “So tell me, how do I stop?”
This is not work.
Neither is it play.
It is easy and hard, almost always both; it is light and heavy, almost always both; and it is pain and joy, almost always both. Someone commented to me recently that I don’t write about one consistent thing – which to most observers would be true and possibly off-putting for someone who wants to tune in every day for a dose of one specific thing. But it never is. It would be like saying I am one particular thing, the same every day – and I could not abide that.
What hits these pages cannot be rendered to a single cliché, but being real, standing in your own skin and owning it, is always best.
It’s the last day of winter today. Tomorrow is the start-gun on a new season, as good as any reason, to start another year of writing my life down on a page, not to be some threadbare cliché, but to be me.
*March 19, 2003 – the day the United States coalition forces invaded Iraq
Reader feedback:
Speaking of Follow Up. We were going to arrange for a face to face over breakfast, lunch or coffee. What day next week works for you? I'm good except Tuesday morning, SC, Chestermere, AB
Hi Mark, Good post this morning – it reminded me to follow-up! J Please send me the link for next week’s meeting and I’ll do my best to be there. Thanks so much, LG, Calgary, AB
No doubt you have seen this several times, but always a refreshing reminder of the things that matter and in line what you espouse in your musings. You’ll have 28 years longer than Charlie to live his follow the messages he wrote – which reflect your ingrained beliefs:
Charlie Chaplin lived 88 years.
He left us 4 statements:
(1) Nothing is forever in this world, not even our problems.
(2) I love walking in the rain because no one can see my tears.
(3) The most lost day in life is the day we don't laugh.
(4) Six best doctors in the world...:
- The sun,
- Rest,
- Exercise,
- Diet,
- Self-respect
- Friends.
Stick to them at all stages of your life and enjoy a healthy life...
Life is just a journey! Therefore, live today!
Tomorrow may not be.
… RT, White Rock, BC