12th April - Day 31 - Mind the Gap

Yes - it was very cold this morning and on Friday Evening - but both were rewarded by lovely views

The picture is from Friday night. I cycled home later than usual so it gave me a chance to catch the sunset, rather than the sunrise. There were some incredible colours around and a vast sky that reminded me how trivial some of the worries of the week had been.

Matt Haig, one of my favourite authors, is often best known for ‘Reasons to Stay Alive’. This is the true account of how he dealt with a mental illness that almost destroyed him and learned to live. He says, ‘Anxiety takes away all the commas and full stops we need to make sense of ourselves.’ . To me, landscapes, friends, purpose, reading and selflessness are the things that put the punctuation in our lives and give it meaning.

As shops, gyms, hairdressers and pubs reopen today, it is important to think about what creates the punctuation in your life and be aware that libraries can also now reopen. Perhaps It says a lot about our society and what we value that very little mention of libraries has been made anywhere. How often have we focussed on what we ‘need’ to get us where we want to be, rather than what we have right now and what will really nourish us. As Matt Haig also says, ‘Beware of the gap. The gap between where you are and where you want to be. Simply thinking of the gap widens it. And you end up falling through.’

So, if you haven’t read ‘Reasons to Stay Alive’ I fully recommend it. It helps the vastness of the sky make more of an impact and the clouds needed to make sunsets more understandable. If you have read it but not his novel, ‘The Midnight Library’ then please do. It will change your view of ‘regrets’ and increase your understanding of the power of books to change lives. But … more of ‘The Midnight Library’ in a future blog.