Are we out of control?

Fair enough. I'm the first one to admit it: I'm a bit (ok, a lot) of a control freak. I like things a certain way, I like to be on time for shows and meetings, I like to know where I'm going and how I'm going to get there. And I like my routine. Don't worry, I'm getting better all the time... I'm learning. Learning to let go, learning to accept change and surprises as positive things, learning to enjoy new and slightly scary experiences.

Now for a retrospective of 2008 so far. (There's only one month or so left to go. Who know? Maybe it'll be really quiet and uneventful...) What is going on? Working back from today: minister from shadow cabinet is arrested and questionned for 9 hours with no warning (cries of police state! and fascists! from the excitable LibDem and Tories. The more cynical think it might be a parting shot from Sir Ian Blair.), Mumbai is under siege for 3 days and counting, house prices are in free fall, Madonna got divorced, big brand names have disappeared or disappearing: GM, Ford(?), WHSmith, Lehman Bros, MFI, the Americans have elected a black man as president, the pound is not worth much anymore, the Aussies have a quiet genius as prime minister, LORD Mandelson (need I say more)... the world is going to pot. I'm a follower of the conspiracy theory that says it's all because of the Hadron Collider - don't know if it all started when they switched in on or when it imploded but there's definitely a link of some sort. Watch this space.

And to think that in 2006, all we had was Alexander Litvinenko's radioactive sushi in London. And we thought THAT was outrageous! (Incidentally, his family were allowed only recently back into their flat which has finally being decontaminated... that's not going to help them sell it.)
So whether you're a free spirit, or a control freak, the fact is, the world is turning on its head: no one knows what to expect, we're all stuck on the planet for the ride so let's just run with it, and see where it takes us. We are spinning out of control, like a top, perhaps heading to a better place? Or a worse place? Who knows?

What's certain is that it's 33 days till the new year. So give up your diets, trying to stop smoking, Xmas shopping for people you don't even care about, buying the latest this or that. It's all nonsense! Look where it got us. Instead, try something new. Change your job, your hobbies, your routine. Do the opposite of what comes naturally. Ask her out! Ask him out! Dump him! Leave her! Learn how to juggle. Dare to dream.

You'll never know till you try it.

Get it out of your system - all of you! - and we can all go back to normal in 2009.