Do you ever find that? You are going along quite nicely. Everything is just fine every day. Everything is in the right place and the pattern of your day is quite comfortable. But there is a switch in your brain that flips, and you just want a change. I’m not quite sure what causes it but for whatever reason, you decide to change things, sometimes quite radically, and you don’t know why except you want a change. I even see it in the urge to spring clean.

I can think of various times in my life when I have made changes. Overall, I would say that the changes have been for the better, but at the time I could not have told you why I was making the change. It would have been somewhere between “it seemed like a good idea at the time” and “I’m bored and need a change” or perhaps I just needed the challenge.

Change brings opportunity and so, if you are up for it, change will invariably be good. It freshens up your life and generates more energy. It’s a bit like driving. If, like me, you drive the same road over and over again, you almost feel that you could go back to sleep. The car knows its way and so you don’t need to think. But, once you are on strange roads, you must pay attention and are constantly aware of your surroundings because you don’t know what to expect or what you will find. You are alert and thinking!

There was a program on the radio this morning talking about why so many people these days have second or third “jobs”. These self-employment ventures are generally referred to as side hustles because everything has to have a sexy name. They suggested that this was mostly people just wanting to earn some more to help with their day-to-day living. But I think there will be many people who do it to get that buzz that you cannot generally get from being employed.

You may be one of those with something that fills your spare time that does not involve making money, but I think that the human mind needs something stimulating to keep it active and prevent stagnation. So whether that is a side hustle, sport or whatever, you feel better for having it.

Anyway, just for a change, I had a day in Aberdeen yesterday. The A96 is a national embarrassment, and I prefer not to drive it unless I must. Anyway, I got the train from Elgin in the morning and then back later in the evening. It wasn’t all skiving. I was working on some projections on the train. On the return journey, a guy sitting a couple of seats behind me was listening to stuff on his phone, but quite loudly and no headphones.

I usually carry headphones of my own to drown out noise when I am trying to work, but this was just too loud. So, I turned around and asked him if he had headphones. I was told in no uncertain terms that the train was public transport, as if that justified unreasonable behaviour towards other passengers.

He got off at the next station and banged loudly on the window. I just waved back and smiled.

Then there was the guy who parked his car on the driveway to our office car park in Elgin, despite being told he could not park there. This made it difficult for anyone else to get in or out. I did manage to drive in by folding in my door mirrors and going slowly.

Where does this lack of consideration originate? Having said that, I am sure we have all done things that could have been interpreted by others as inconsiderate, even if we did not think that ourselves.

I suppose my approach to these situations is to accept their actions. I don’t need to react. It is better just to smile and move on, otherwise you spend your life worrying about other people and their issues. Not worth it!

My mother had a saying “You’re a long time dead”. I think I understand it now, although it took a while. You have a finite period of time on this rock. Why fill it with angst and needless worry. I try to let others do the worrying; they are better at it than me. If I cannot change something, then accept it and move on. If someone else can change it for the better, then that’s a bonus.

Why waste your energy worrying about something when you cannot change anything?

 

Alan E Long

The Long Partnership

07770 738770