29th December 2024

Today is the day I have my get together to celebrate the reaching of 60 years old. A couple of people who I wished to be there cannot make it due to illness which is very prevalent at the moment. I had to stretch my budget to get a new pair of trousers and a top as recently affording such luxuries has been out of the question. Affordability is a word I shall cover in future posts as it is a word thrown around like it has some statistical measure and allows people to understand the whole of the economy and it's effect on the population.

I was reading this year's in memorium list of famous people and stars that have passed away this year. According to The Office Of National Statistics (ONS) the average lifespan of a male is 78.6 years of age. I hope to have longer than that but let's be honest it could be less than that. One has to be truthful and realistic; plus the crap I often eat, the lack of exercise and a few cheap ales here and there are not helping my longevity. One thing I have learnt from life is that we all need support and encouragement in whatever we do. Of course a few people can go alone and make bold achievements and manage to stay on top of their chosen endeavours without too much support, love or help. However, for most of us we need that crutch to lean on, that person to encourage and motivate, a partner to love and support, a family to be behind you and encourage, a friend to lean on and diffuse combustible times. 

Coming from a dysfunctional family where love, compassion and care were rare commodities my understanding of family support was absent for most of my important years. I did not know what it was like to have someone support and encourage me in my childhood and young adult pursuits. The negativity attaches itself to you like barnacles on the bottom of a boat, holding you back and not being able to move full steam ahead to achieve my dreams and aspirations. (Nice nautical metaphor there). 

My failures in health can be associated with my early life experiences, not as an excuse or a reason, but as an obstacle that I failed to deal with and allowed to take possession of my emotions. I lacked the support of good people, of close friends, of significant others which in part was also due to my own doing. I don't need any help, I did not have none growing up so why do I need it now? I would take on every issue and see it as a way to prove my parents wrong about me amounting to nothing. But that is not the way folks. 

We all need help, we are programmed to be social animals. So, from someone who may only have another 18.6 years to live, do yourselves a favour and get that support. Not only that, be supportive to all the people that mean something to you. Live your life amongst other human beings and stop peeking into people's existences via screens and channels. 

According to Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) the universe is 13.7 billion years old. From radiometric dating the Earth is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old. So looking at our own time in earth and average man in the UK has spent 0.00000173 % of it alive. It terms of the age of the universe the figure is 5.693430656934307e-7 (look that one up). My point is our time here is so fleeting that the maths will take longer to work out than your actual time alive, metaphorically. 

Live your best life, be amongst good people and share good times. Create memories to share on your own 60th birthday and love the people around you, support them and be part of their own memories.

Time to get ready for my own 60th.