Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 17

Christmas balls, stars and light part 17
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Is your life today what you pictured a year ago?

Daily Writing Prompt

Day 17

I didn’t think a year ago that my Dad would have passed away, for starters. You don’t expect something like that to happen. In January, he was hospitalized with inflammation of the pancreas, and on February 8, he was gone. I still feel sad when I think about it. His memory wasn’t as it used to be, and people say, in a way, it was a relief for me that I didn’t have to go through with his memory loss. That’s true, but he would still be here, and I wouldn’t be alone. He would have turned 80 on March 25. My mother died when she was 68. It makes me wonder how long I got, but with death, you never know. If you stay in that darkness, your life will be wasted. You go through grief for a while, but then you need to move on. Tears will fall occasionally, but then you keep living because that’s what your loved ones want.

A year ago, I didn’t think I would still be unemployed, but then again, I’m not surprised. Looking for work is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Apparently, it’s the same with finding clients for your business. That’s what I thought a year ago as well, to become an entrepreneur. But I have kept putting it off. If you have no clients, there is no business. That’s one of the reasons why I haven’t started. I can’t live on my savings forever. I’ve taken courses on how to be active on social media and how to promote yourself. But what worries me the most is what, if nothing, of those courses will get me clients. Have I wasted my time and money on nothing? Maybe I’m not good enough to be an entrepreneur. Perhaps I’m the problem, and I can’t learn anymore. Being active and posting regularly on social media isn’t the only solution. Those post needs to have decent content. You can’t post only for the sake of it. Starting something is the hardest, but you shouldn’t get into the darkness of your fears and worries. I look at my personal Instagram and see the lack of traffic there; it doesn’t give me much confidence in my professional one. You can’t compare those two because their purpose is different. Luckily, I will have people there to push me forward with my goals.

I don’t picture life ahead because you never know what will happen. Things may have changed a year from now. A lot can happen, whether it’s personal or worldwide. Life is short; it’s only how you live it. You can do something about some things, but there are things you can’t. As Gandalf in Lord of the Rings said,

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us”

The only that’s certain in this life is death and paying taxes. I certainly don’t want to do the first one in a long time.

Bloganuary: Gandalf quote

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Day 22. There are so many good quotes out there, so it isn’t easy to know what the favourite one could be. Being a big fan of the Lord of the Rings movies, many of the quotes, there are my favourites. The quote(s) I chose is from one of my favourite scenes. What Gandalf says to Frodo when they are in Mordor isn’t only fantastic but so true. JRR Tolkien was a genius.

Frodo: ‘It’s a pity Bilbo didn’t kill Gollum when he had the chance.’

Gandalf: ‘Pity? It’s a pity that stayed Bilbo’s hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play in it, for good or evil, before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many.’

Frodo: ‘I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.’

Gandalf: ‘So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides that of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, in which case you were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought.