"If you always do, what you've always done, You'll always get what you've always got!"
- Unknown
So it's Monday and the start of another week of blogging. I'm really getting into the blog and, what's even better is that from the responses I've had, so are you! It's great to think that there are people out there taking time to read the blog and are enjoying it. So thanks to all.
Now, there was no blog yesterday so I couldn't tell you about my adventure on Saturday. Don't panic! I didn't end up in hospital from the aftermath of the curry, and my mouth healed over perfectly after a couple of glasses of milk and a cornetto or three!
Saturday for me was a busy day as my youngest sister graduated from University (She's all grown up now - wipes away tear)! I love a good family occasion. Any excuse to get the suit out of the wardrobe and I'm there!
It was a great day for so many of the students there and, as those of you who have graduated know, it's a great experience; to be acknowledged for your hard work and celebrate your achievements. I don't know who it was exactly that decided we should acknowledge good work by making people wear a bat cape and square hat, but someone started it and it stuck. And to this day we still do it (I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation somewhere!).
As I sat down watching hundreds of students (who could well have been extras in a Harry Potter film), pass by it got me thinking about this whole tradition of graduation. More precisely, the graduation outfit. If were to ask you or any one of those students what the symbolism or reason is behind the bizarre looking outfit they were wearing, I doubt many would know. What's the reason behind the hood? The cap? The bat cape? The meaning and reason, in all honesty, is not important. The gowns are worn because, ultimately, every university does it, tradition says to have it, so we keep doing it, because everyone else does. If someone says it's always been that way, then we have to do it. Right? I mean, can you really imagine graduates from Oxford university rocking up to their graduation wearing ripped jeans and a hoodie...I don't think so.
I wonder how many times in life we go through situations, and do things out of the sake of tradition? Not because it's our choice to do those things but because "that's the way it's always been" or "that's just how it is". It's always been done that way and who are you to change it? Well actually, you are someone to change it. The thing is, tradition is usually a bad thing. It holds us down, it hold us back, it stops us from seeing change. The world is full of people who have the potential to make a difference in life and yet so very often "tradition" gets in and holds us back.
But why? The reason...we get discouraged.
Very often there are times in life when we come across situations where we can see a better way of doing something, a way of improving something or doing something differently. I'm very lucky to work in an environment that favours those who take risks and try new things, yet even within my own career there have been times where people have responded to my ideas with, "well we don't do that because this is how it's always been done." Immediate feeling....discouraged. Give up. What's the point? If people are stuck in their ways then why even try? Ever felt like that?
I wonder how many world class athletes have fallen down at the first hurdle and given up. How many world class athletes have tripped over and just simply given up? The answer...None!
The truth is that change is a scary concept for a lot people. Taking risks means we don't know how things will turn out. But tradition? Well that's fine because we know the exact way everything will go.
The problem is if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.
But if you're willing to take risks and go against tradition, do the things that have never been done, then the outcome is totally different. Sure, there will be times where it doesn't work and you fall at the first hurdle but it's what you do after that that counts. Do you simply walk off the track or do you brush yourself off and get back in the race?
So I end with this thought.
Life is full of people who love tradition because it's safe. People who love to do things because that's just how it's done and life for these sorts of people is boring.
Life is more than just being stuck doing things over and over because that's just the way it is. It's about taking risks and doing something new. If you've been knocked down recently or experienced a set back in life, don't just accept it! Instead try and do something that's never been done before. Remember that which doesn't kill you can only make you stronger (really hard not to break off into Kanye West there!).
In life there will be times where life is like a graduation gown, just doing things because "it's always been done that way". But there will also be many times where taking risks will be the better option. You'll never know how exciting life can be until you start taking risks.
Today, don't just do things in life just "because that's how it's always been done" but take a risk, live life on the edge. After all, if you're not living life on the edge then you're probably taking up too much room anyway.
Bywyd sydd yn byw! - Just living life!
RM
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