LIFE IS NOT A MATTER OF MILESTONES BUT OF MOMENTS

‘Life is not a matter of milestones but of moments.’

A curious little statement and open to consideration. Yes we need to pay attention to the moments and live them to the fullest, squirreling these away in our memories to dust off at the opportune time. Whereas a milestone is a milestone!

Maybe the best way to look at this is that special moments give us the feel good factor which in turn generates waves of positivity that propel us forwards. Once feeling positive we are filled with determination to achieve and start striving towards our goals, marking out the milestones along the way.

An easy way to demonstrate is to consider a mother’s reaction to her child. The first time baby smiles is special and may well be something she holds close to her heart whereas baby’s first steps are definitely something to shout about!

Some of the most important moments in our lives often create feelings of negativity when they occur, for example the moment you hear that your job application/audition was unsuccessful or the project you worked on so hard stumbles at the last hurdle. We need to turn these around quickly by acknowledging what has happened and finding a new route to achieve that goal. With the given examples this could be through self employment or auditioning for different types of roles, possibly having a reality check. Turning negatives into positives is a fundamental skill that alters our outcomes by increasing our determination to succeed.

Milestones, by comparison, are pretty monumental therefore easy to recall and mark out our road OF achievement. Our C.V.’s cannot be compiled of ‘moments’ but achievements. It is very interesting listening to Rolf Harris speaking about his life; a man who clearly missed many moments in order to pursue achievements. Rolf missed out through working 7 days a week leaving his wife feeling lonely & almost suicidal. Rolf lacked the experience to realise that he was fulfilling public demand and had no idea how this affected his wife, being very shocked when he discovered this for himself. Rolf stated that he had led a very selfish life in order to maintain a good standard of living, which is not uncommon amongst men who pride themselves on providing for their families. The balance between work and maintaining a true family lifestyle is very difficult to achieve especially for celebrities and the special moments may become a scarcity as a result.

The lesson here is that whilst it is imperative that we maintain our focus and strive to reach our milestones we need to make an effort to create ‘moments’ and fill our memories with them. In a way there is a definite division between moments & milestones, in summary we can view our moments as the personal side of our lives whereas the milestones are usually within the public domain.

Jaz McKenzie
If you have an achievement you wish to share please contact us on itsbraap@live.co.uk