Life's Too Short

This is a random sort of post - it isn't about writing and it isn't about the tiny island I call home - it's just about life and something that I want to write down.

There are days when the dramas in our lives seem all encompassing - when the little things seem like huge insurmountable problems. Days when you get worked up over the problems rather than finding the solutions.

I won't go into too much personal detail, but recently some things happened in my life that seemed like such a big deal. I got upset and angry and frustrated and very, very sad. I couldn't see a way to fix the problem and it felt like everything had gone horribly, horribly wrong.

Then I went to see a friend and poured out my problems to her, got emotional and upset. She listened to me rant and then told me that she was facing a few problems of her own. When she told me what they were I felt terrible. My drama suddenly seemed so small and trivial.

My friend had found out that someone close to her was very sick, and he didn't have long left. Suddenly a guy treating me badly didn't seem like such a big deal. As bad as I felt about it, it wasn't life and death.

I came away from that conversation with two realisations. The first is that my friend is an incredible person. With all of her problems on her mind she still sat and listened to me rant, and provided a sympathetic ear, when she could have simply told me to get over it.

The other realisation is that life is too short. It is a brief and fleeting thing, and if we get caught up on the little problems we will miss out on so much.

I am incredibly lucky and blessed. I am young, healthy, I have my whole life still ahead of me, and I live in one of the most beautiful places. I get to live a life most people can only dream of. And I need to stop worrying about the little things - like irritating men - and focus on the big picture. Making the most of the life I have.

So today I am making a deal with myself - and this is where the writing comes in. I am not going to wait around, wasting my life when I can MAKE things happen.

On the 30th of June two very important things are going to happen. The first is that I'm going to turn 30. The second is that my first novel is going to hit the bookshelves - virtual ones at any rate. On the 30th of June my first novel will become available to buy on Kindle, and hopefully if that goes well I will make it available on iBooks and Nook and all the rest of them.

Life is too short. It's time I made the changes I want to make rather than just thought and talked about them.

Wish me luck!