Think differently

I was saddened this morning by the news of Robin Williams. It is sad that he is dead, but it is also heartbreaking that he ended his own life. There are many types of depression and it can affect anyone, from any walk of life and at any stage.

I have grown up with Robin Williams' films. Perhaps the most poignant for me was Dead Poet's Society, released in 1989 when I was 8 years old, although I suspect it was a few years later that I saw it for the first time. I will always remember Williams as John Keating standing on a table telling his students to look at the world differently.

On my kindle there is a Haruki Murakami quote that I see every day before bed, it reads 'If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.' So is true with everything in life.

I try and see things differently, I try to do things differently and I try and push myself to do things that I'm perhaps not comfortable doing. I try to broaden my horizons - something that I hope is evident from my blips. It's good to remind yourself to do that - there's a whole world out there that you might never see, even if it's on your doorstep.

My blip tonight is from the anatomy lecture theatre at Summerhall, one of only three left in Scotland. Something I didn't know before tonight. It's also the venue for a show I saw tonight called Light Killer. Review here.

So many of Williams' films are inspirational, so many characters showed us that we could be and do anything that we want to. Another of my favourites, Good Morning Vietnam, taught us to stand up for what's right, to stand up for what we believe in.

We don't know what's going to happen in life, so you have to make the most of now. That is what his lasting legacy means to me. In memory of Robin Williams, one of the greats, I'll end with the words of one of his characters:

"Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary."