| It is March 2025 and Trump is threatening 25% tariffs on our country. I mean, first he was, then he wasn’t, now he is, and now he did, but wait, just over 12 hours later and he is rolling some back? What a political rollercoaster ride.. As you read this today you may wish me to ‘stay in my lane’, as it were, and just write about healthy eating and exercise, but our political climate today has me thinking of an old fable I heard recently. It is a story of a Chinese farmer that had an old horse for tilling his fields. One day the horse escaped into the hills and, when all the farmers neighbours sympathized with the the old man over his bad luck the farmer replied, ‘Bad luck? Good luck? Nobody knows.’ A week later the horse returned with a herd of wild horses from the hills and the neighbours congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was the same, ‘Bad luck? Good luck? Nobody knows.’ Then, when the farmers son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this was very bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, ‘Bad luck? Good luck? Nobody knows.’ Some weeks later the army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmers son with his broken leg they let him off. Now was that good luck? Bad luck? Nobody knows. What’s my point? I sort of feel like we are living in this parable right now. The truth is we don’t know whether an event will eventually prove to be good or bad. Which doesn’t mean we become numb to the real difficulties in our lives or the world. And it definitely doesn’t mean rationalizing and passively accepting injustice in the hopes that one day it will lead to a good outcome. But what we can do is ‘control our controllables’. Do what we can to prepare for the worst, and do what we can to create the best. What this requires is a trust in your self to handle it, whatever it is. And in the words of Michael J Fox, “Don’t spend a lot of time imagining the worst-case scenario. It rarely goes down as you imagine it will, and if by some fluke it does, you will have lived it twice.” Wishing you a wonderful day, with many smiles and some positive forward action. |
| Remember, the only way to coast is downhill. Midlife and beyond isn’t the time to coast or give up – it’s the time to show up for yourself and the life you want to live. Let’s create a future you’re excited about! |
