My Atlas

There are some weeks when life kicks you up the backside, telling you to get on with it and to enjoy every minute while you can.

Fortunately, this is not a regular occurrence, but when it happens, the weight is burdensome yet important to acknowledge.

Throughout my life, I have often been told to maintain perspective – don’t make the highs too high because the lows will be unbearable.

This way of approaching life’s roller coaster can lead to an anticlimax until you begin to realise that the most cherished and memorable element of any success is its struggle.

Maintaining this type of perspective must be done carefully; otherwise, you can easily become conditioned to avoid the challenge or be uninclined to embrace the struggle because the fear of failure stops you in your tracks.

It’s complicated.

Mary Ann Evans, more popularly known by her pen name, which was a sign of the times, George Eliot, apparently wrote, although it has never been substantiated, “It is never too late to be what you might have been.”

And although the time may have passed for me to receive a Test Cricket ‘Baggy Green’, I take the point.

Feeling youthful whilst having access to a body of wisdom makes life interesting. There are moments when a joke or wisecrack may have once seemed appropriate, but in maturity, your brain receives a bolt, kicks into gear, and saves you from a faux pas. Timing should remain a challenge for the youth, although I still, at times, challenge this proposition.

The importance of maintaining perspective, particularly when you feel overwhelmed, is a facet of emotional intelligence that requires constant reminders. Yet, sadly, it is often only when tragedy strikes or sadness sets in that we are triggered to focus on what really matters. There have been plenty of occasions when I have felt compelled to make contact because of a sad occasion. I am a notorious and irregular communicator whose feelings of guilt come to the fore during bouts of melancholy or in reaction to upsetting events. This is not a model I wish you to follow; rather, please communicate with loved ones and friends before you must.

The greatest sportsman of them all, boxer Muhammad Ali, the master of a quip and the clever and calculated taunt of opponents, was also very thoughtful in his messaging: “Often it isn't the mountains ahead that wear you out, it's the little pebble in your shoe,” he said.

Often, it is the cumulative effect of the small things that build up over time rather than the long-term goals or the strategic direction guiding your path. Reminding yourself that those matters and grievances are inconsequential in the scheme of things is a difficult skill to maintain and nigh on impossible to master.

How quickly do we find ourselves reacting instantly to messages and emails when careful thought should have been required when addressing the content? The dreaded reply-all is often a result of us rushing and not taking the time to make considered decisions. How quickly do we find ourselves feeling that we must respond immediately because we may be judged or accused of not being available? If you take a step back for just a moment, does it matter?

Additionally, instant feedback and gratification via social media is a pattern of behaviour that we must all continue to monitor.

There are moments when you may feel you’re carrying the world on your shoulders. To carry the weight of the world on one's shoulders comes from the Greek myth of Atlas, who was fated to carry the heavens because he led a rebellion against Zeus.

There are times when my shoulders feel tight or dropped and stiff, there is a tension to the work that we do, and the responsibility that we willingly take on. But we do it because we can, perhaps because we must, and the weight can be as fulfilling as it is burdensome.

Keeping our lives in perspective should occur far more often than when tragedy and sadness strike. It is the feeling of staying in the moment and appreciating the environment and the people around us who make a significant difference in our lives. For if we don’t learn to recognise and appreciate the now, it will only be when we hurt that life is lived to its fullest.