Life is fleeting. I, like most other people, very rarely face up to this fact. Every now and then though something makes you realise how fragile life really is. When that happens you need to use that emotion to fuel your own grip on life. Make the most of what you have got, now while you have the chance…

After a bit of recent reflection, I realised that to help me get over the passing of Dad I focussed all of my efforts on losing weight. I looked at myself and felt that I needed to do something about my growing waistline.

Instead of messing about for a couple of weeks, which is what normally happens when I half-heartedly try a new diet, I outlayed some money and signed up for three months on the Diet Chef diet. Alongside the diet I have really upped my activity levels by walking everywhere. This includes walking Shirley to work most days before returning to where I work. That means I tend to cover at least 5 or 6 miles almost every day. Together this has worked wonders and I’ve lost 2½st (35lbs) so far with about 3 or 4 weeks to go!

I’m sure this has been helped by my additional focus due to the timing and my present state of mind. Grief is a strange thing. I am starting to believe that if you can harness some of the raw emotions that come with grief you can actually use it to your advantage. This is all in hindsight though so I am not sure if it is something that can be controlled on purpose or whether it was purely accidental on my part…

When I lost Mum I took that as an incentive to give up smoking. When New Year’s Eve came around I just made the decision to quit!

In the first 18 months I had just 2 cigarettes, neither of which I actually finished, and I haven’t touched one since. It’s coming up to 7 years now…

That is probably the only New Year’s Resolution that I have ever stuck to…

Finding something to focus your attention on seems to help me deal with the grief. At the same time I feel that I am able to use the added motivation to actually help improve myself. In a way it feels like I have managed to get some small positive out of these terribly negative events. It doesn’t make the loss any easier but at least I feel much healthier now which gives me a bit more clarity of mind to help deal with everything.

Try and take something positive out of everything life throws at you.

It’s not always easy but from my experiences it definitely worth the effort. Now go out there and enjoy life…