I love quotes and proverbs. The one above is one I read a good few years ago.

There’s been times in my life since, when things haven’t been going as well as I’d like. It’s so easy to wish and hope that, at such times, things will magically change without any input by me.  Experience tells me though that ‘magic’ doesn’t ‘magically’ happen. Experience tells me that, ‘ if I always do what i’ve always done, i’ll always get what i’ve always got’, (I love that one too). When the changes have happened, it’s been me, myself, I, (or me and mine), that’s caused the changes. We’ve made the changes, and the changes we’ve worked at, have changed our lives. No magic involved.

It’s easy to hear someone be-moaning their bad fortune and to clearly see the changes they need to make. I remember well a person I used to work with . He never had a cent to his name. He used to tell me how lucky I was to be able to afford holidays.

Our place of work didn’t supply tea or coffee, but they provided a good kitchen with fridges and microwaves. My colleague always arrived at work with a take away coffee and a takeaway toasted penini from the local cafe for his breakfast. At morning tea he walked around the block returning with his second takeaway coffee, and often a muffin. He  went out for lunch daily too.

I had my breakfast of yogurt and fruit before I left home in the mornings.  I kept a jar of Nescafé at my desk, and a litre of milk in the work fridge. I either cooked extra dinner at night and brought in left-overs to microwave, or I made a salad the night before for my next days lunch. Once a week I treated myself to a takeaway coffee and muffin for morning tea, and once a week I treated myself to a takeaway Greek salad from the local cafe – they did make lovely coffee, muffins, and the best ever Greek salad.

My holiday money didn’t come by luck, or by magic. It came because I went without things through the year, saving the money for other things. It was easy to see that my colleague could easily change some simple things that he was doing, and his financial situation would ‘magically’ change accordingly.

There’s a couple of things I’d like changed in my life now. Nothing major, and certainly nothing that’s out of my control. But I keep doing what I’ve always done, just waiting for the ‘magic’, to magically happen. If I mentioned the things I’d like changed,  anyone who knows me will clearly be able to see the changes I Should be making. It’s easy for outsiders to see the glaringly obvious….. it’s not hard for me to see either. Perhaps it’s time. Time for me to took ownership, time to take control, time to ‘change what I’ve always done.’  With one of those things being a greater level of fitness, – I guess it’s time for me to get off my butt and go for a walk.