Few are bold in old age that are cowardly in childhood

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Each Thursday I select a Viking quote, sometimes randomly but ofttimes based upon relevance or meaning to my life at that point in time. Despite these phrases being over a thousand years old I believe most can still offer value in modern society and I find it interesting to ponder, weigh and measure them. _{original im src}

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This week's Viking quote

Few are bold in old age that are cowardly in childhood - Völsunga saga

Have you ever tried to change someone else's habits? Yes I know, it's incredibly hard - nigh on impossible I'd say. The only person who can change a person's habits is generally the person themselves, yes there's exceptions, but in the main if a person doesn't want to change, they will not.

In looking at this week's quote I see a simple phrase suggesting that it is preferable to create good habits earlier in life as changing the bad ones we may have formed is often difficult and, if continued, not very productive. Essentially, one must seek to be their best version from the earliest possible moment, continue to do so over and over again, and the best possible future will follow from there.

Let's not get too caught up on the wording of the actual quote folks, the word cowardly. Instead let's look at how we could apply it to us in modern society.

I want you to think of all of the valuable personality traits, skills, attributes, thoughts and attitudes that could assist you to be a better person and live a better life. Got it? (This should be a long list.)

Now, think about all the bad ones.

Consider how the good ones help you push forward to a best-life scenario, keep you on-track towards your goals and ambitions. Now consider how the bad can inhibit that journey. Sure, we learn from adversity and tribulations, the bad things...but I'm not talking about those bad things, I'm talking about personality traits and habits like greed, hubris, laziness, selfishness, deceptiveness, underhandedness, dishonesty and so on. I'll give you an example.

Imagine a person cheating in school exams and assignments. Yes, they may get good grades but are they truly learning and gaining the knowledge that will carry them forward? No, they're deluding themselves. Carry that cheating, deceptive and lazy habit forward into adulthood and they'll probably end up finding it doesn't carryover, or serve, so well and that they ultimately fail.

Instead, say they do the study as a school kid, work hard for their success, take ownership and responsibility then carry those habits forward into adulthood; they'll find better results and a better feeling when success comes; they'll probably also be a better person to know, more genuine, trustworthy and dependable. It won't mean they succeed all the time of course, just that they possess some of the attributes that help them be a better person through positive and valuable habits.

You see, habits aren't always bad, they can be very good for us in that pursuit of our best selves and best life. If we nurture the good ones from a young age, or even from now, they'll tend to support our best endeavours and we'll usually live more fulfilled lives. It's never too late to implement good habits.

One of the great things about being human is that we have the ability to recognise good or bad behaviour and positive and negative actions and, whilst we each have a different concept of those things based on our own lives, intellect, age or situations, we have the power to see them and to make relevant changes to improve our lives moving forward; you know, release bad habits and replace them with good.

The quote talks about childhood but I believe it's never too late to release negative, bad or unproductive habits and replace them with positive, good and productive ones. Sure, changing ourselves and habits can be difficult however not changing ourselves could have catastrophic implications.

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That's it for this week, a thousand year-old Viking quote suggesting we discard bad habits for good. Please feel free to disagree with my interpretation and add your own, tell me a story around this quote or topic or simply react to it and let me know what you think, how you see it, how it relates to you or someone you know.

Skol.