They say no need to wait for Jan 1st to start anew, there’s always a Monday. Very true words, however there’s also NOW. I am anxious to write about this, not the easiest of subjects, goes through on many levels, but during the last week it has come up in conversations with 3 of my good close friends and even though the natural tendency would be to avoid it, I am going to go for it: Age. And courage.

The trouble is, you think you have time – Buddha’s words (apparently).

Whether we are young or not so young we don’t know what’s going to come our way tomorrow.

We can only try our best to be the best versions of ourselves every day. And that takes tremendous courage, I think.

We dream of things we want to do and places we want to visit, then washing up takes over and there’s never time to get in shape, nevermind speaking Italian in Tuscany or studying impressionism in Paris.

It is so tempting to go the easy way, in anything – work, relations, lifestyle choices… but then at some point we end up staring the truth in the face: cutting corners does not pay off in the long run, there are no magic tricks (or magic pills), and it’s only us who can be who we want to be.  Or at least try. And that’s where the courage kicks in – the courage to keep going, keep trying even though there’s no way of knowing whether you’ll succeed.

We cannot run away from growing older, but by taking chances and making effort we can make our journey exciting, rewarding and fun. The more we push ourselves to develop mentally, morally and physically, the happier we are, and the happier people around us are – isn’t it what we want ultimately?

Next time you feel like “maybe tomorrow”, think “hell yeah” and give it a go. “Maybe I’ll try this class next week” is an excuse, just go for it now.

Onward and upward, Foxes, maybe we cannot change the world but we can definitely change ourselves and be happier for it!