by Maria Koropecky, Free Spirit Coach

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has died after 96 years of life and 70 years of service. When they said, “Long live the Queen,” all of those times, she took it to heart!

I’m sure many people will be sharing their stories about the Queen, so I’ll share mine as well.

(On a side note, have you ever wondered what was in her purse?)

Anyway, in the early 1980’s, I was living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and attending St. Peter’s Junior High School.

Fun fact – Ottawa is the 7th coldest capital city in the world.

In order to get to and from school, we had to take public busses and transfer at the intersection of Heron & Riverside. The busses were always packed to the brim with students and government employees and the waits between busses seemed very long. Maybe on this day, I just didn’t feel like going through all of that.

So, my mom let me stay home and we called it a ‘mental health’ day, which I feel was fairly progressive at the time. I spent the day listening to records and watching soap operas.

After school, my friend called me to ask if I was alright and told me about the big event of the day.

As it turned out, on this day that I stayed home because I didn’t feel well, Queen Elizabeth herself drove by our transfer bus stop in her motorcade as all of my friends from my neighbourhood were coming home from school. They got to see her close up!

Sadly, I did not. I missed the Queen’s wave. Sigh.

I think that’s where my FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) comes from and although I’ve missed a few more events after that, I do my best not to faff around (as the British would say) too much, though taking a rest day every now and then is important too.

How about you? Did you ever meet the Queen?

Have you missed out on something and regretted it?

Do you feel you have a big life purpose?

Do you practice selfcare?

However you answered these questions, let this moment in history inspire you to do what you need to do to move forward. Not all of us will get 96 years and we’re all not playing on the world’s stage, but each of us has something to contribute.

I invite you to take a leap of faith and go for your dreams and live your life as best you can now.

Show up and who knows what surprises await you – including meeting with royalty!

And if you’d like some coaching on anything regarding your life purpose, creativity, health, selfcare, career, play, travel, relationships, or spirituality – especially if it has to do with showing up as your authentic self, using your voice and being of joyful service to the world, let’s chat.

Don’t let your life pass you by and as my email signature says, “Carpé Diem!”