I've stopped counting down

Earlier this month, I came across a meme on Facebook saying:

Maybe this day is not one of your favourites but never forget that every day you wake up is an amazing gift and it's up to you to make it count. 

(I think the image might have been attributed to Rongrong but not the meme.) However, it struck a chord. Earlier this year, I decided to stop counting down the days. Of course, if I'm looking forward to a meet-up with my bestie, then of course I'll count down. (But please, Ms Humdrum, make sure you get the month right so you're not counting down days til the 9/2 instead of 9/3 and your friend laughs at you and puts you right when you ask her the day before what time she is hoping to arrive!)

I work in school and it's easy for life to be punctuated by school terms. Obviously, this is true for most families of school age children. You can't help it. a seven or eight week Autumn 1 term, holiday week, seven or eight weeks until the two week break at Christmas etc. But we also do it in school. We pass in the corridor: "Only two days til Friday!"; "How come it's only Tuesday?"; "Last week until half-term! Woo!" (Part of it is just our British conversation, I'm sure.) 

It's hard to find joy in the daily drudge: wake up, get the kid(s) off to school, get myself to school, work, come home, arrange food, drive to football training, eat, watch one programme on Netflix, sleep. Rinse and repeat.

But I decided to stop wishing life away like that. Just because it's a Monday and the only thing I have to do in the evening is drive to football training, wait 90 minutes in the car, then drive home, this doesn't mean I can't find something to appreciate/do/enjoy, even if this is just doing a crossword puzzle in the car with a rug around my legs!

I'm not willing to trade my 39 weeks of school for my 13 weeks' holiday. No way.

This was made awfully relevant because on the same day that I saw the meme, I found out that a young colleague passed away quite unexpectedly.

So I stopped saying it. 

I have to find other inane things to talk about instead. That's fine, there's always the weather! During my many in-car-waits for football training, I use the time wisely: I have gone for a run, read my book, blogged, even scheduled in a weekly call to my best friend.

Just like the three things gratitude movement, I like to think about the great things I've done that day. And yes, it's only a week until half term, but I am thinking of all the great things that I can do in that week. Corny as it is, each day is a gift.