Life lessons from Mario....

Met an old Italian guy today. Mario. Bit of a crazy old fucker but he gave me some of the best advice I've ever had.

I'm starting to write this blog post on my anniversary. I'll probably not end up finishing it for a few days as I always write stuff, come back to it, write some more, edit it a little, then post it when I'm happy with it. 

Anyway. 3 years ago today I got married. I'm a lucky guy. I have a great wife who has given me a beautiful daughter, and I have a great life. But that's not what this post is about.

For our anniversary we decided to go for a family day out in town, me, my wife, and my daughter, to do some shopping and get some nice food.

As we walked into the restaurant I clocked this old guy sitting in a booth on his own eating his lunch. He stood out a mile, dressed in a sharp tailored suit, snazzy tie, tanned, and drinking some red wine. As nailed on an old Italian mafia man as you can imagine. He was a cross between the godfather and a gentle old grandad.

After my meal I bumped into him in the toilets and we exchanged a few social words, not that I really understood much of what he was saying. He had about as broad an Italian accent as mine is Geordie so I kind of smiled and made off before I ended up offending him. And the last thing you want to do is offend 'the godfather'!.

Back at the table I was just telling my wife about him when he came waddling over to our booth.

Now imagine this being said in a broad Italian godfather type accent. "Can I give you some advice".... Well yeah go on but even if I say no I'm pretty sure your gonna give me it anyway so carry on!

"You are a good boy and you have a beautiful family. Limit, limit, limit. You need to limit everything. Money, food, drink, everything. You must limit these things if you want to be happy and live to be an old man like me. Not too much of everything, you must limit. I am 81 years old and I have lived in this city since 1956. I have 4 children, 8 grandchildren and I am very lucky. I worked hard everyday in my life. Hard work is very important, it is good for you. I see people now who don't know how to work hard. They have no idea. If you work hard you will be happy and your family will be happy because you will look after them"

He went on. Some things were lost in translation but I kind of got what he was saying.

"Treat everyone nice. Treat your family well. You need them". He said pointing at my 8 month old daughter.

"You must treat them well and take care of them well now because someday you will need them to take care of you well also".

"Save some money. Work hard and save a little bit because someday you will need it. Work hard and enjoy yourself and enjoy your family and your life".

With that he told us to have a lovely afternoon and he was gone, waving at the waitress, the chef, and the barman as he left. 

Now It would be easy to just laugh at Mario and call him a crazy old man. Which I did of course. Then forget about him straight away afterwards. 

But I took notice of what he said. He spoke some wise old shit to me there and I would be a fool to ignore him.

In fact once he left I kind of wished he'd stayed a bit longer and gave me some more old Italian mafia wisdom.

I imagined him to have tales of dealing with people who "disrespected the family" and having to get rid of one or two old rival "wise guys"

Or maybe my imagination was just running away with itself!

Anyway. As I get older and hopefully wiser I'd like to think I can take some of Mario's advice and use it well.

And hopefully I can pass advice on to others about things I've seen and learned as I go through my life. I'm only 35 mind you, just a boy, as Mario said. And I basically know sod all about a lot of things in life. 

But I'm learning all the time and these days I'm constantly on a personal quest for self improvement.

That's the main reason I started this blog. To get better at something i quite like doing. Writing. And of course to help others with their health, fitness, and nutrition. Something I do know a bit about. I'll help anyone if they just ask.

You can always learn something from someone. It doesn't matter how small it is. That's what I reckon anyway.

These days I walk around with my eyes and ears open constantly. I try and take as much from every situation and encounter as I can. I'm always looking to learn and get better. I guess I just appreciate life more these days and recognise we are only here for a limited time so we need to make the most of it.

I don't want to live my life to just simply exist. I want my life to have purpose and to have meaning. 

I don't want to be average. Fuck average!

I want to feel alive every day. I want to live my life with passion and to inspire others to find their passion.

I want to inspire my kids to live their lives with a desire and a purpose. To not simply live life for the sake of living.

So today I thank Mario for this wisdom.

Love your family, treat them well. Work hard, be happy. Enjoy yourself, but limit the excess. Treat people nice, and they will be nice back.

From me I share this wisdom.

Take care of your health. Take care of your nutrition. What you put in your gob is the single most important thing that affects your well being. 

Trust me. 

It affects everything. 

Your mood, your attitude, your outlook on life. Your state of mind, your energy, your fucking sanity!

And If you don't believe me ask Mario. And you don't want to disrespect him!

You might just wake up with a horses head in your bed or something!......

Have a great weekend people....

Peace, out.