Cherishing the important things in life

The recent passing of Her Majesty the Queen was a huge loss to her family and to the country, but it was also the end of an era. I, like so many, have only known the Queen on the throne. She has been our rock and constant, and now within the blink of an eye we have King Charles the Third as our monarch.

The Queen’s passing after 70 years on the throne highlights that change is inevitable in life and unlike the Queen’s reign change can happen quickly.

We have a new King, a new Prime Minister, we are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, inflation is soaring, and it’s almost like Covid never happened.

I think this constant change and the major global events over the last few years have been really unsettling and can leave some feeling helpless, swimming against a tide of negativity.

Amongst all this doom and gloom, it’s important to cling onto to positive things in life that give you stability and security. I find that when everything around me is stable – my family, friends, work, leisure time etc then life is great. But it doesn’t take much for this ‘house of cards’ to come tumbling down! A cocktail of a poor night’s sleep, a poorly dog, a problem at work, an unforeseen cost, and before you know it the stability is rocked.

There are so many things we can’t control in our lives so it is pointless wasting the time and energy trying to change those things, but we can control how much quality time we spend with friends and family, we can try and be more loving and enjoy have a good laugh, we can live a healthier lifestyle and keep fit, or simply smile and be kind and courteous to others.

These are all things we can control all things we can choose to invest time in to improve our quality of life and help to put other events into perspective.

‘Change is inevitable in life. You can either resist it and potentially get run over by it, or you can choose to cooperate with it, adapt to it, and learn how to benefit from it. When you embrace change, you will begin to see it as an opportunity for growth’. Jack Canfield