The Shadow of the Future*

Near Year. Always new beginnings.

Everyday a new beginning.

You will start something with good intentions, and give up and fail. It doesn't matter. Begin again.

You will write down goals that you will miss. Begin again.

You will start something and succeed.

You will achieve something.

Lose weight, get fit, enter a 5k, 10k, 50k, climb a mountain, read a book, learn an instrument, start a course, learn to cook. You can choose to start whatever you want to. You can begin something new now.

The edited highlights of someone elses life on social media will make you feel like you are missing out. You are not.

The perfect filtered picture on instagram will make you feel that you are not good enough. You are good enough.

You will promise yourself you will eat healthier and exercise. You will fall off the wagon. Begin again.

You will be scared and anxious and wonder if the rain will ever stop. But you will get up and begin another day.

Other people will be scared and anxious and frightened. They will not tell you this.

There will be lost loves and lost opportunities.

There are other opportunities. Do not squander them.

You will lose someone you love. There will be someone who loves you.

You will try your best. But at times it will seem half arsed. It doesn't matter. Begin again.

You will have an argument with someone you care about.

You will say something stupid and dumb. You wont know why.  Don't worry, this is not who you are. You will try and be better and more understanding. Be better. Begin again.

You will be misunderstood and you will misunderstand other people.

You will cut someone up in traffic. You will be cut up in traffic. There will be cancelled trains, and delayed planes and crowded stations. They are only moments. They will pass. You will begin again.

You will do a good job. You will do a bad job. No matter, either way begin again.

These moments will not define your life.

Someone will make you laugh out loud. You may cry.

You will forget something important. You will remember a pointless fact about a TV show or song.

A celebrity will die. A celebrity you've never heard of will get married or divorced.

There will be a war in a place you've never heard of, and people will die.

And millions of people will be kind and generous. And it wont be reported.

Someone will sit on their ass and not do a damn thing. This does not affect you.

Your goals are your own. Do not do them for other people.

Your failures are you are your own. Do not blame others.

You will make mistakes. Accept, apologise if necessary. Begin again.

Governments will change and fall and you will get up and go for a run as usual, roll out your mat or lift that weight.

There will be someone you will never speak to or see again.

You will meet new people. They will meet you. You can't trust your internal voice and they can't trust theirs either.

Someone will say something that pisses you off, or will be a dumbass. It doesn't mean that is who they are. Let them begin again.

Give people the benefit of the doubt. But don't accept dogmatism and hatred.

Choose weightlifting, or running, or yoga, or powerlifting, or walking, or cycling. You can choose your path. It is okay to change your path.

Don't hate yourself because you ate a dessert or missed a training session or got drunk.

You are not a bad person because you ate a chocolate bar.

Be kind to yourself and begin again.

Everything you will ever know or experience will be from a first person perspective.

You can let the past cast a shadow or you can let it go.

The shadow of the future has no shape yet.

You don't have to be the same person you were yesterday. You can wake up  and start again. Brand new.

You will forget all this in the heat of the moment.

All you can do is try your best.

Only one outcome is certain.

Every moment, every breath is an opportunity to begin again.

Start now.

Get some perspective.

*The shadow of the future is a term from Game Theory. In Game Theory you generally have the chance to co-operate with an opponent or be selfish and make a pre-emptive strike, but they could also do the same. However, if you are likely to meet the person in the future it is always best to co-operate. In general a strategy of 1)Be nice 2)Reciprocate 3) Don't be envious 4) Don't be too clever, always outperforms all other strategies in Game Theory. Life lesson - always start by being nice to people, and co-operate where possible. Plus 'The shadow of the future' is a cool title.