The Tide Always Comes

Yesterday I entered a sand building competition with the kids.

We spent 45 minutes on it. A real team effort, real hard work in the heat. We didn't win. But bloody hell, they had a great time. Laughing, arguing about where the wheels should go, getting sand absolutely everywhere. It was brilliant.

This morning I walked along the same beach.

Gone. Every last bit of it. The tide had washed it all away like it was never there.

And I stood there thinking, that's life, isn't it?

We spend so much time worrying about outcomes. Did we win? Will it last? What's the point if it all disappears? But the kids didn't care about any of that. They were completely lost in the doing of it. The building. The laughing. The now.

Steve Jobs once said he didn't start to really live until he found out he was dying. Think about that for a second. One of the most successful people who ever lived, and it took a terminal diagnosis to wake him up.

You don't need bad news to start living properly. You just need to notice that the tide is always coming. So build the sandcastle anyway. Be there for it. Enjoy every grain of it.

Your action today: Open your Clubwell journal and write down one moment from the last 24 hours where you were completely present. Not planning, not scrolling, not worrying. Just there. If you can't think of one, that's your sign to create one today.