Enjoy the ride

Now, I'm not a big roller coaster fan but Matthew and Amy love them.

Yesterday I had one of those moments of realisation as I sat on a Coaster waiting to be launched around the track.

I had the power to choose whether to get on the coaster or not! I had chosen to get on because I wanted to be part of the family fun. In the past, once I had made the choice to get on, I sat in dread every moment of the ride.

That's when it struck me, I could also choose to enjoy the ride, I was choosing to hate it even though I had committed to going on the journey.

The only thing stopping me enjoying it was the story I was telling myself about how much I would hate it.

I changed my state of mind and relaxed. For the first time I really enjoyed the ride!

For years I have hated these rides because I felt I was out of control. Suddenly I realised I am in total control of my state of mind.

Thinking this through I realised that this is true for everything in life, we decide to commit to things then spend our time worrying about the decision rather than enjoying the experience.

Enjoy your ride

Mark


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Langham Dr,Davenport,United States

Enjoying my Family

We are currently on a Family Vacation in Florida enjoying the Easter School holidays with our two teenage children.

Orlando has been a favourite destination for our family over the past 12 years as it has something for everyone and satisfies Matthew and Amy's need to be doing stuff all day long.

We haven't been here for the past 4 years so we were both excited and uncertain about how our now teenage children would enjoy it.

It has been fantastic so far, it has brought many happy memories back to us and we are enjoying all the big rollercoasters we were too nervous to ride in the past!

It has been very different though. Our children are no longer surprised about what's around the corner and they now know when they have had enough.

We had a great chat last night in the hot tub and we all agreed that the most important thing about a vacation isn't the destination it is about spending good quality time with each other, something we forget to do when we are home!

Enjoy the Easter holidays!

Mark




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Langham Dr,Davenport,United States

Enjoy each step

Five years ago we bought an old, turn of the century, house. It was in a bit of a state and needed a complete refurbishment. We had a clear vision of how it would look when we finished it and for the first six months we lived in a rented house while we got all of the mess out of the way.

Unfortunately we were naive in renovating houses, the builders did a bad job and ripped us off financially. It has taken four and a half years to get back to where we should have been.

I have now adopted a different attitude towards the house. We still have a clear vision of the finished house however instead of beating ourselves up because we haven't achieved it we set ourselves next step objectives.

My next objective is to finish the hall and utility in the basement, I should have this completely finished in a couple of weeks. The house won't be finished but at least we can enjoy finishing that task.

I am always daunted by big tasks so I have decided to focus on the next step, after all each marathon is won one step at a time, each blog is written one word at a time.

Enjoy completing your next step

Until next time, enjoy yourself!


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Location:Worksop

Enjoy old age

Apparently over 10 million people alive in the UK today will live to over 100! That's a staggering increase on the current number of around 9,000.

The good news is that we will probably enjoy good health in old age. I think this is fantastic news and we are starting to think about how we are going to enjoy our time.

One thing we need to consider is how we finance it, most people will work in income paying jobs between the ages of 20 and 65 which means that there are 45 earning years and 55 non earning years assuming they don't live beyond 100 - this got us wondering - are we saving enough?

Enjoy your day

Mark

Location:Glasgow Rd,,United Kingdom

Enjoy iPhone

Here is my first blog from my iPhone. I bought my phone as a bit of a toy if I'm honest but now I don't know how I managed without it. More on phones an life later.

Enjoy yourself

Mark


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Sparken Hill,Clumber and Hardwick,United Kingdom

Enjoy it while you are alive!

Last week Lee-Annes Grandma, Evelyn, sadly died.

She was 90 years old and in relatively good health, but a fall in her home led to a chain of events and she suddenly passed away from us on our daughter Amy's 14th birthday.

Evelyn led a simple life, saving money away in wads of cash around the house as she didn't trust the banks and didn't want anyone to know her business.

This week we have been sorting out her few old belongings. She didn't have much in the way of possessions, she never went on holiday and lived in one room of the house, choosing to huddle by a gas fire rather than run her central heating.

It struck me in the last few days that we all leave this life with the same thing - nothing! We leave behind our possessions and our cash either for the next generation or the tax man.

We have decided that we are going to enjoy life to the full right up to the very last minute! We have also been thinking about a fantastic legacy we can leave - more of that later!

Enjoy yourself

Mark

Enjoy your retirement

I read a story today that literally brought a tear to my eye.

The times reported on the growing number of retired people who have taken out debt to fund their lifestyle without any means of paying it back. There are more people going bankrupt in retirement than ever before.

Some of the comments on this article are unsympathetic however I really feel for these people. They have shuffled in to retirement at a time when credit has been too freely available, every airport, every shopping centre, every service station have people pushing credit cards. Many young people don't understand the truth about money so it's a little unfair to think that these people entered into credit agreements with their eyes wide open.

I think this is only the start, unless we take saving for retirement seriously many more people will fall into old age debt.

Younger people say it is difficult to know what you will need in retirement, it seems so far away.

I happen to know what everyone wants in retirement, everyone want something different but I know exactly what each and every person wants.

Each person wants a lifestyle in retirement and the minimum they want is at least equal to the lifestyle they enjoy today.

Its time we started taking retirement seriously

Enjoy yourself

Mark