Limitless Monday – Always be creating memories

A few weeks ago, my son was less than enthusiastic about dragging himself out of bed for his final Jiu-Jitsu session before flying back to the UK later that day.

It was one of those early Saturday mornings when the world is still quiet, the streets are empty, and sensible people are still tucked under the covers. To make matters worse, it was an 8 a.m. no-gi class.

No-gi sessions tend to be far more brutal than the traditional gi classes, often resembling a bar fight when the two combatants don’t know what they are doing. Given that, it’s hard to fault him for thinking a couple of extra hours of sleep might be a far better use of his time.

Tommy, our wise Sensei, had other ideas. “In order to create new memories we must do things we don’t want to do,” he told Harry. It had the desired effect: both adding to our shared memory bank.

It’s wisdom I try to follow when boredom or apathy begin to creep into my day and attempts to leave me glued to the couch.

Boredom creates apathy. Apathy leads to Tiredness. And tiredness leads to laziness.

If we are spending multiple hours of our day in these states, it’s almost certain we are not going to be creating any healthy memories. In fact, we are letting life pass us by. Perhaps one day you will snap out of this daze and realize how you just wasted a significant bunch of your potentially most productive years. Years that you will never get back. Maybe you will never reach this realization. Many of us exist as zombies. One day is very much like the next. We mistakenly believe there is nothing that can be done to exit this debilitating scenario.

All good memories require some effort. That lack of effort is the cause of most people’s apathy. Generally, the better the memories, the more effort required.

Your job, and mine for that matter, is to focus on creating memories. If you find yourself slouching around this weekend, tell yourself, “This has to stop!” Pull out your phone, which you no doubt already have within close proximity, and begin making plans for next weekend. Visit a museum or an art gallery, attend a Jiu-Jitsu class, go horseback riding, rock climbing, go on a hike, plan a vacation, start learning a language. Do anything that will break your apathy. It’s a f**cking disease!

Happy Monday!

Banner Image: Memories. Image Credit – Laura Fuhrman