Eamonn and Ruth
Eamonn talks… ANOTHER YEAR NEARLY OVER AND A NEW ONE ABOUT TO BEGIN
A reflective Eamonn reveals why turning 60 was a big wakeup call – and why his New Year’s resolution is to get healthy and do more of the things he loves...
So are you a drifter, or a do-er? Are you happy to go with the tide, or swim against the current? Clocking in at work, paying the bills, looking after the children, looking after your relationship... but what about looking after you and your health?
Well, that’s what I have decided my priority should be from here on in. I turned 60 on 3 December, and it dawned on me like never before that the way to keep your health is to build on it – while it, and you, are still in half-reasonable shape.
To do that, I need time – and time might not be on my side. That’s because my dad died suddenly, at the age of 64, from a heart attack.
I have four other brothers and although we don’t speak about it, I know we all think the same.
Sixty-four is the bar – and some of us are getting closer to it than others. With the grace of God we will all have a good few years left yet, but what happened to dad certainly helps to concentrate the mind.
Life is for living and if the time scale is four more years, then I have a lot to pack in and tidy up, so that my affairs are in order.
Up until last year, Ruth would definitely not have thought that way – but the sudden loss of her sister has made her think again.
We both feel very lucky to do the jobs that we do and in many ways our enthusiasm for our careers could be our downfall, because it’s very hard to give up something that you love and harder still if you need to pay your rent or mortgage.
Most of you reading this won’t even be at the stage where retirement is even remotely a consideration, but time-management while still balancing the books probably is.
Every weekday, I undertake a three-hour round-trip commute into London. Boy, do I resent that... 15 hours a week minimum!
Time that could be spent doing all sorts of things, but hopefully things that could be good for me... being at the gym, learning a new skill, clearing out clutter from the garage, learning to cook, giving my dog back the attention she gives me. In short, me time.
So ask yourself how much me time do you give to you. If I was marking my own homework, I would say, ‘Could do better!’
Ruth says I would get very fed up, very quickly – and she knows me very, very well.
Is it a question, then, of being more organised and doing the things that you want to do, or could do from home ? In my case, writing this column for best is a pretty fine example.
Sixty is a very strange age. You feel young on the inside, but people look at you on the outside and treat you somewhat differently.
I want to ride bikes, run parkruns, see all the parts of Britain and Ireland that I’ve never seen before. I love the sea and yearn for the smell of salt and seaweed from seaside towns. I highlight pages on my Instagram account of places that I’ve never visited. Simple places, for a more simple life.
And all that needs a very simple solution – time. But time, as they say, waits for no one. So my advice to you, and I hope I practise it myself, is don’t wait for time to catch up.
You must have a list of things that you want to do, so do them – before you have no time left.
But right now, it’s time to say goodbye, and may 2020 bring you the time to savour whatever it is that you want to enjoy!