Second attempt Day 14

Rome 23BC - The poet Horace writes the poem Odes 1:11. He ended it with the well known, killer line 'Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero' - Seize the day, trust little in the future. 

At a little Spanish guest house we stayed at last week, as Rach was checking us in, I wandered off around the ornate, Andalucian courtyard. Amongst the semi-tropical plants I was reminded of Horace's advice, which I had learn't in my A level history classes all those years ago, embroided on a pretty tapestry. 


.

It got me thinking.

I always felt I had lived my life fully to this mantra. Always up for a party and having fun, seizing the day, right? Wise old Horace knew we only got one shot at this life and he would have been proud of me. 

The second part of his final line -  'trust little in the future' I completely agree with. We have to remember though, that at the time he wrote that poem the average life expectancy of a Roman was around 25 years of age, there wasn't much future to be honest. Even so, I love that philosophy. You can't control tomorrow, concentrate on making today great.....

.....but the first part was troubling me as I stood there waiting for Rach to emerge with our room key. Carpe Diem - Seize the Day - I rolled it around my head many times, did I fully appreciate it's true meaning? Could I have misinterpreted this simple, but famous two word phrase for all these years?

It's now been exactly two weeks dry for me. The second time I've achieved that in the last 29 days. I've done things very differently this time around in Spain, its been a completely new experience. And the result?  I've had a truly wonderful time! I want more and more of this. 

I've cycle toured through rural Andalucia, nothing new, but this time with all my senses finely tuned and able to soak up the experience. Eaten at all our usual restaurants, nothing new, but this time been able to really appreciate the culinary excellence each night, and been able to really talk things through and make good decisions.  Played 16 sets of tennis, nothing new, but this time been able to apply myself fully and improve my game to boot. Walked, talked and cycled everywhere together, nothing new, but this time woken early each day full of energy, ready, and able, to make great memories all over again. 

So, what is it? Have I ignored Horace's advice this time around and missed out because I stayed sober? Have I been a bore and squandered my chance to party whilst I was still lucky to be alive. Or had I finally had my epiphany moment, and interpreted correctly what Horace truly meant in that poem. Had I learned to live life to the full, whilst I was still lucky to be alive. 

Maybe I had finally done Horace's poem justice. Maybe I had seized the day? 








 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Second attempt Day 42

Image
Sierra Nevada stands 2075 meters high. Ben Nevis, in comparison, the best the UK can muster stands a mere 1345 meters in stature. Even Alpe D'Huez, the most famous and most gruelling Tour de France obstacle only boasts 1860 meters - Phoa! 'small fry' I thought!  Getting there would be the highest ride of my cycling life without a doubt - at times during it, it started to feel like my last - but eventually, very eventually, 35km of agonising climbing to be exact,  it was reached, achieved and duly ticked off the bucket list.  The ice-line appeared around 1500 meters up, by 1750 meters it was minus 2 and thick snow was lying on the ground. Fortunately the main roads near the top had been well gritted but still treacherous in places. The  off road, mountain gravel tracks lower down even more dangerous - thank god for the versatility of the recently invented gravel bike - even so, it took well over 3 hours to complete the climb.  A lot of thoughts flash through you...
Read more

Day 2

Image
I don't intend to write a blog post every day, but I think on day 2 it is important to put down my thoughts and feelings for many reasons. Firstly, I am now detoxicated, well rested and feeling much more alive after the weekend's excesses. Therefore, it's natural for me to now reflect on how I feel about starting the blog and putting my issues in the public domain. Do I have any regrets or worries? Absolutely not, the only regret I have is not doing this sooner! If anything it has galvanised me and being able to document the journey is working for me and helping focus my mind on the things I love as well as helping me think about the solutions.  Secondly, as I am at day 2 I have had a chance for my family and friends to read and process my first blog post. I don't think the contents are a surprise to anybody, but I was worried people may not appreciate me airing them publicly. I couldn't have been further from the truth and I have had some very supportive comments f...
Read more

Second attempt Day 1

Image
In the Spanish village where we spend half our life there lives an old Japanese woman. Her name is Yoshi - I do not know if this is her real name,  or a nickname - perhaps even it is a shortened version of her real name,  but everybody in the village knows her well and calls her that.  I have not seen her since the pandemic started, but I am told she is still doing well. The bar that she has owned for over 60 years has not been open for almost two years though, and now has a 'se vende' sign outside. Clearly she's calling it a day after all this time and selling up. Yoshi is as fit as a fiddle, and well into her 80s now. She is still playing a round of golf everyday apparently. She told me once she had set sail from Japan as a teenager in the 1950s in a small yacht with her husband in search of adventure. They sailed from country to country over the course of many years until they arrived in the village where they went no further. They knew they had finally found the place...
Read more