*Guest Post* Living in today :)

First things first I best introduce myself!
I’m Nat, aged 20 (nearly 21!) and am a Brit currently living in Canada. I am a dance teacher and a self confessed dance nut.
This is my first ever proper blog :D and I'm excited to be a guest blogger and part of this awesome place.
So here is my topic, that I spent AAAAGES thinking about-

LIVING IN THE MOMENT

Yup.
That’s it.
Ok, I’ll elaborate.

I have found, like many of you I’m sure, that I live a few months in the future. Worrying about what will happen in June, when it’s barely March. Worrying about September, about this event happening in April, about what to do in August.
And what happens whilst I’m doing this?
January and February have gone.
And it’s now going into the third week of March.
We have had 70 odd days of 2011 so far, and I’d say I worried about the future for 65 of them.
For me it's almost a form of procrastination. Why worry about the fact that I didn't eat breakfast today, when I haven't put aside any savings into an account for my retirement? Let's worry about a decision I don't have to make for a few months instead of doing work that needs to be done for tomorrow

I'd like to repeat that I am 20. Not 50.

So I set myself a challenge. For one day, to live totally in the moment. To enjoy the day, to view it as a gift, and not something that had to be pushed through in order to get to another day. After all, *slightly morbid thought now* we don’t really know how many we are going to get.
And seeing as I chose yesterday- Friday to do is particularly apt, considering the awful events happening with the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan.

So here was my day-
Wake up. And stretch. Enjoy how comfortable my bed is, and the fact the sunlight is creeping through the cracks of my curtains.
Jump out of bed, open the blinds, and then jump back in bed. I lay there and made pictures out of the clouds I could see.
Get dressed and have breakfast (very yummy pancakes with strawberries :D)
go for a walk and see some ducks,
have lunch at a friends house and watch two hours of Dora the explorer with her two year old.
Learn how to knit legwarmers, and revel in learning a new skill.
Help make bbq chicken, and also ginger molasses cookies, and start a food fight with flour and sugar with a 10 year old
Watch tv with a cup of a tea and just talk for hours with my best friend
drive home, have a quick shower
and then fall back into bed

Now obviously not every day can be like this. We have to work, do chores, pay bills, get groceries
We have responsibilities, and people relying on us for things
BUT
just once in a while, take a 'me' day
A day to go where the wind blows you,
where you don't spend the majority of your day worrying it away, stressing over the future
You wanna drive and spend the day at the beach? GO DO IT
You want to spend the day on the couch watching Disney movies/weepy ones like the notebook? GO FOR IT
You wanna spend all day in bed? GO RIGHT AHEAD

Have a day FOR YOU
Wonderful beautiful you

Much love

Nat

xox