Lately, I keep being side swiped by how it is in fact almost 2024, not 2004.
In 2004 Mr Brightside by the Killers was big, we all fell in love with Ryan Gosling in The Notebook and I was a goby 18 year old working in a mountain sports shop by day and pulling pints in my favourite nightclub most evenings, donning my standard dress code of the tightest tiniest vest top and the baggiest of cargo pants hanging dangerously off my hip bones and bum. This stuff doesn’t seem that long ago, right? Wrong!!!
It was 20 years ago!!!
Twenty years before I was born the chart topping songs were Yellow Submarine by the Beatles and Paint it Black by the Rolling Stones, and movies in colour film were only just becoming the norm at the cinema. This stuff felt super retro when I was growing up, so to a 20 year old today my early adulthood, that feels like only yesterday, is like another vintage world. I AM VINTAGE!!!!
By this I mean; I am a fine wine, a collectible, a rare and sort after find.
I am no longer disposable throw away trend.
I am a goddamn classic!
This has made me reflect heavily on how what was once expendable in our hedonistic youth is now sacred and to be treasured and cared for with respect. I am not talking about our eyebrows (RIP… you were loved, but plucked too soon), I am referring to our health. Our precious physical, mental and social health.
The important realisation I have made is that I am no longer 20, and that is not a bad thing. It is a wonderful thing! 20 years ago I was a mean girl who abused and took advantage of what I had. This however, is a phase of life that I am loving, where I choose to love me and take good care of what really matters… because in reality, it is all that really matters.
What good is the big house, the dream job, the perfect partner, money, a sexy new car or fetch outfit if you don’t have your health to enjoy any of it with?
I’m not saying its easy to prioritise our health, but it is the most important investment we can make. Putting the work in today to love, respect and appreciate our body and mind will pay out big time in futures to come.
Choose to move, get outdoors, soak up some vitamin D, stretch, sweat, breath big, feel your heart beating in your chest, spend time with your people, laugh, cry if you need to, enjoy all the food that brings you joy (including all the butter and all the carbs) and wear any damn colour you like on a Wednesday!
Live life fully today so a healthy-happy-future you can look back on these memories and smile.