Out walking the other day I overtook an elderly lady on the pavement. Maybe it was my imagination but I thought I saw her shaking her head. I didn’t nudge her or hit her with my bag. I wasn’t speeding around but was obviously a tad faster than her with my feet. I got to thinking about how we tend to speed ahead in life. Is it because we are so eager to reach our futures? In that respect, did she shake her head because in her life she no longer feels the need to rush around? As we humans reach the autumns of our lives, do we tend to look back fondly on our summer years and wonder what the winter years will bring?

On the flipside was she shaking her head because I wasn’t enjoying the present? A gloriously hot sunny day with a cool breeze in the midst of a calm summer week and I’m not feeling it. I’m just passing through. My young skin was a massive contrast to hers, covered in a day’s make-up and my face etched with the thoughts of plans for the weekend; the sun lit up the paths of her past on her face as she soaked up the sun. Slow and steadily. 

Am I right? Do I place too much emphasis on the future? Should I slow down and enjoy the sun while I’m still in my summer? Even now, my thoughts are fast forwarding to our trip in 7 weeks, as if it is a beacon shining amongst the monotony of the every day. I wonder if I wait too long for my future and that I’m going to miss out on opportunities in my present. In my winter years I’m not going to want to waste my days idly thinking about passing on and what is beyond, I want to be walking in the glow of my past and present. And in the very naked reality of it all, how do we know when we are in our winter years? At 34, one would hope I’m emerging from the spring of my life and blossoming for a long summer, but we don’t know when our own personal autumn starts. I could have my winter smack me in the fast form of a bus on my next walk.

I think what my fastforwarding mind is wrapping its mentality around is this: let your summer enrich you while you are here. Whether you are in your winter days or not, the sun still shines in memories and nourishes who you are and will forever be. If you give in to the sun it will highlight the footsteps you have made and are yet still to make. Don’t let the cold in. Let it warm you to your fingertips so you can reach out and touch other people’s lives. Burn your nose to make others laugh. Warm your heart to share with everyone around you.

Share your summers, past and present, for a stunningly bright future.

Photo by Dave Watson
Please check out his work on https://www.instagram.com/davewatson_uk/ or at https://davewatson1980.picfair.com