Non, Je ne regrette rien – 21st October 2017

At the beginning of the year (I think) I was introduced to the “Barefoot Investor” book by an Australian friend of mine. I read the book at the time and got some good information from it (like the hospital only insurance cover which enabled me to have a private room when I had my operation earlier this year). Recently I revisited the book (and have instigated a few more things). I’ve also been online and had a good read through his old blog posts. In trawling through the blog posts I came across one about regrets of the dying.
It’s here if you want to read it
https://barefootinvestor.com/life-meaning-lessons-happiness-whats-important/
It was an interesting read, and a thought provoking one, partly because reading through the list I was ok with where I sat on 4 of the 5 points (well I’m still working through a couple of the 1-4) but the one that resonated with me was point 5.

5. “I wish I had let myself be happier”

Umm, what… let myself? And I guess to some extent it is correct (and it is partially correct if you look into the science). Given that over the past few years I’ve not been at my best in the happiness stakes (partly to be blamed on thyroid problems and perhaps even pre-menopause – anxiety, night sweats…) but now that I’ve had my thyroid operation and I’m feeling much better in myself, I’ve realised that happiness is a choice. As humans we have the ability to – to a certain extent – choose how we react to things. So for the moment my choice is to try and feel happy with things in my life, especially those that I can’t control (please note this does not include feeling happy about Pat falling off a ladder and splitting his eyebrow open – but I’m happy that he is recovering and didn’t do anything too serious and that he didn’t get any blood on the newly painted white bookcase in the living room)!

So as we in the Northern Hemisphere head into autumn with grey skies and less sunshine, I wish you a happy weekend and a happy two weeks – à bientôt and remember Pat’s blog next week – http://patblog.patbell.co.uk