It’s cliché, I know. Live today as it is dealt. It’s the only day we have. It seems that we keep forgetting.

You might think it’s strange, but the combination of reading Trotsky’s History of the Russian Revolution and personal events are working on my mind. I knew this would happen. Remember? Wild connections are begin made. The human mind is so good at that.

I went to sleep yesterday with many thoughts running through my mind, mostly centered around a single theme. Want to read about it? It won’t take long.

Do what you believe is best for you, in the moment you believe is right, and leave everyone else to do the same. Live YOUR life right now, not later.

So many times in my life, I’ve wondered…am I doing the right thing? Fear, and the fears of others, stopped me from doing what I had planned. Who can know what I’ve missed? But that’s ok because I am where I am now because of those decisions and this life right here is all we have. We can’t relive and try again. We might as well enjoy it, wherever we are.

Thinking that I really don’t know what the best decision is for myself most times or where it will lead, I wondered why we even try to direct other people’s lives, even the lives of people we love most?

Do we not trust them to know their own situation best? Leave them to their lives. Support them when they ask for help. Be there when they need you. But it’s their life. Don’t let your fears and insecurities alter their trajectory.

In the same vein…

Live YOUR life right now. Take that vacation. Finish that project. Read that book. Call that person.

Do it. Right now.

We only have this one life, live it as it as the cards are dealt.

That doesn’t mean run out and spend all your money, throw your relationships out the window, and live dangerously. It means LIVE, right now. That lunch you’re making? Love it. That phone call you need to make or work meeting you need to go to? Be there. That child or parent that needs your attention doing that thing you aren’t that interested in? Give it to them.

There is no tomorrow. You can’t save up time for later.

What does this have to do with the Russian Revolution? Nothing specifically, but as I read, I wonder about all these people. What were they doing on their farm, at their factory, or on the warfront? As always, each person had a life they were living when this took place. Movies help us see this. Doctor Zhivago comes to mind.

There you are, studying at university, getting married, having children, while the world around you goes on. Plagues, revolutions, wars…crazy to think that nothing ever changes.

The only real difference between the past and our current times is the speed of communication. If you turn it off, put down the phone, stop checking the internet, and quit the news feeds, life slows down to a crawl. The world will go on doing what it does, even if you’re not watching, and nothing will be worse off because you weren’t.

That’s all I have for this fine Saturday morning. Yeah, feeling a little reflective today. There’s a lot going on here. Enjoy your weekend, reader. It’s the only one we have.