Why You Should Live Your Life Like There Is No Tomorrow.

I was talking to a female elderly friend today. She was telling me about memories from her younger years. She used to run, swim, ride a bike, go on adventures, and, play on park furniture with her children. She is now 72 years old, and she has angina, arthritis and walking problems with her legs. The conversation reminded me of something my gran told me when I was a young teenager:

"Live like there is no tomorrow because one day you won't be here."

My gran was right. We spend a large portion of our lives stressing over things like work, housework, children, relationships etc. Often to the point where we forget to have fun, relax, or take any leisure in anything that we do. Time goes by so fast, and we are so busy that we miss the best things that happen to us because we become so stressed out.

When I talk to people about stress. They often tell me that work, children, housework stress them out most of all. They feel they do not have time to enjoy living for having to do important things. People who have no children tell me that by the time they finish working, they are so tired that they cannot be bothered with anything.

Both complain that life itself feels like a chore, and is full of too many responsibilities.

The problem is, when you have too much to do, everything can feel like a chore; even the simple things like enjoying a meal or watching television. However, this is where we need to slow down our thoughts and enjoy our lives. We as humans, tend to look at the negative side of our busy lifestyles, and we forget, that things become so much easier when we can see the positive side, simply by enjoying what we do, whether leisure, routine or work, and looking for the fun in doing that.

No matter how busy your day is, look for something positive, enjoy it, because life is short.

I remember when my six children were young. There were many stressors in my life at that time and very little time for us. If I could turn back time now, I wouldn't have become so stressed every time the children refused to do as they were told. However, I became so absorbed in my parenting responsibilities that I took everything seriously, to a point where I didn't find humour or fun in anything. Every aspect of life as a parent was perceived as stressful by me and I could no longer see the positives or the fun in watching my children grow up.

Today I do many things that would have been seen as no fun in my younger days. I write, do chores, deal with bills and even still, I find I have to sometimes deal with my now older children's problems. I'm also caring for someone with disabilities while taking care of my own disabilities. However, I deal with these things very differently today, in the sense that I try to do them in a fun way, especially bills because I have dyscalculia which causes me some severe problems with numbers.

I deal with bills together with my husband, and by myself with a calculator and I try to make working them out fun.

I live in a large house, and at the moment there is only two of us, which can make things more difficult at times. I used to hate housework and I'm not perfect with decorating and DIY skills. Housework can feel like no fun, no matter what the task, so I decided to turn it into fun:

• Decorating: I do the majority by myself, and I am not a skilled decorator. I teach myself and I use courses, DVD'S, and I watch many decorating shows. I don't worry about being perfect, because that spoils the fun of learning, so I try to use the basics while sometimes stepping out of my safe zone. I don't follow trends, I mix and match my colour schemes myself and I try out my own imaginative designs.
• Housework: This used to be a swear word to me, and it became even more so after the children left home and left me with spare rooms! I decided not to stress, and I had fun thinking about how to make use of each room. Two of the rooms are now being designed for use. One will be a bright sitting room so that my husband who has disabilities can relax if he finds it too painful to get downstairs, and another is going to be turned into a game and exercise therapy room for both of us to enjoy some physical activity at home. Cleaning and sorting wise, I just turn on some music and do it, because music makes it fun! Vacuuming while doing the Shake 'n' Vac dance gets it done quicker!
• Cooking: This is something we all do, and sometimes I hate the washing up it leaves. Cooking frequently during the day and then washing up can be an annoying task at times. I made it more fun by breaking the rules and creating my own yummy foods using basic recipes and adding ingredients in order to turn them into my own tasty creations or baking my own creations from scratch. I now love cooking, but I hate washing up; which is where the headphones come in useful!

I used to be a person who stayed indoors because I had mental health problems, and facing the world felt frightening to me. However, I soon learned to appreciate being outdoors. Even at 45 years old, I still love the beach, funfairs, castle trips, playing many outdoor games, walking and more. When our days are constantly turned into chores, every day starts to feel like a chore itself. When I was inside all the time, I would think about everything I had to do; and the problem with this was:

Life became full of responsiblities. Every day became boring and stressful, to the point where I didn't get any pleasure out of living.

I made my mental health worse by keeping myself inside and focusing on household chores all the time. I got bored fast, depressed fast, and I had no friends or social life. I missed out on seeing concerts I loved, going to the cinema, eating out, shopping outdoors and outdoor adventures. When you start to live life and get out more no matter what age you are, you meet all kinds of people. Besides, there is so much more to do outside!

When my husband worked as a nurse, I spent much time by myself at home. I was doing chores every day, some just to keep myself from being bored. Time passed fast, especially when everything had been done, and most of the time I found myself feeling like I had an unproductive day. I started to become fed up and depressed with myself, so I faced my fear and started going out. I walked through the Common, climbed trees, swam in the sea, joined in with Volley Ball on the beach and did many different activities. I did many activities like Yoga on the beach alone.

The more I did these things, the more I felt my life was worth living.

Life is too short to waste away. So call your friends, eat that cake, turn chores into fun, have a good time doing every little thing you can. Find joy in everything that you do, even if it is something you don't like doing.

Elderly people taught me so much about adding value and enjoying my life. There are many who are alone, and one of my elderly friends made this statement below:

"If I were to die tomorrow. I'd like to die believing that I am still living. Therefore I will die enjoying living because life was made for enjoying things."

I hope that you enjoyed reading this article which lends a fresh perspective on enjoying your life. If you enjoyed it, then please heart my article and let me know. Tips are nice and will enable me to buy a new laptop so that I can keep writing.

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