I say to myself often. When I get halfway through the day and feel like I’ve been scraping but got nothing done, when none of my efforts are being seen (or it looks as if people are purposefully ignoring me).
The whole world is against me. All the traffic lights are red, the work is stressful and boring, and everyone is rude.
I know it’s my hormones, but my brain cannot process what’s going on in my body. There is no reasonable explanation. And because I cannot find an answer, I cannot, as a result, find a solution for the problem. Hence why I cannot be bothered.
If I cannot find the solution, then just leave me be. Depending on the time of day, I can be found having a strong cup of coffee or a glass of red, having a lie down on the settee, watching Parenthood (love that show!) or a Place in the Sun (and dreaming about my retirement). What else is there to do?
Last week 16 people lost their lives in one (if not the most iconic) Lisbon trams. We should see this as a warning to the tourism over-crowded countries.
Elevador da Glória
Something must be done. And I’m not referring only to these beast old vehicles’ regular maintenance. I’m talking about the excessive tourism that’s gone out of hand, pushed by pure greed. Sacrificing the locals’ living standard (which was already not that high before), by pushing the property selling value way above their worth,
Why not set a figure restriction? Surely tourism would become more sustainable if there was a cap on the numbers?
This article talks about the strain tourism puts on countries that welcome visitors.
I am not looking for clicks or followers writing about this topic (unless what I write entertains your thinking). As many of us do, I find writing therapeutic; it helps me make sense of the world around me. And I’m sorry, as much as I’d like to keep up with new ways of reasoning, I found no convincing view for this trend. I just cannot come to terms with how Millennials + have developed into a bubble-wrapped generation. Clearly, society has devolved, not evolved.
All that pain and hardship that used to be seen as part of growth is now seen as the root cause of all sorts of mental health problems. And the normal geekiness and introvertedness are now labelled neurodiversity traits.
In my opinion, society (us) is crippling the new generations of their natural talents and from acquiring important life-coping skills and mechanisms, which cannot otherwise be learnt. And no, this cannot be learned with a YouTube or TikTok video. It’s gotta be experienced.
For the first time my son got absolutely shit-faced. Barely a teenager. That’s why he was asking if I was working from home today… Went through our bar and picked the heaviest spirit available.
The crime weapon
Found at St. Mary’s church back yard, nearly completely out of it. He could barely talk, let along sit up… A spectacle Tik Tok worthy I’m sure. Surrounded by girls…? I cannot even comprehend this equation… 😂
We’ve all been there (getting through it or supporting someone through it), so I cannot judge him. It’s his own learning curve 🥰
Being able to see through people’s intentions and quickly picking up on chemistry, vibes, and cues is a privilege mostly earned with age and experience. A rare few may be naturally gifted to identify red flags. However, in an increasingly virtual world, these cues may be harder to pick up, especially for those who are still young.
Adding a hybrid setting to the experience helps because you get both the virtual cues and the body language when working in the office, which supports your conclusions. I have always had a passion for human psychology and love to try to understand the reasons why people act in certain ways.
Whilst some people will hold onto the belief that what you don’t know cannot hurt you, I like the knowledge. Although there are theories that defend that understanding may lead to resonating, I think that will greatly depend on how strong someone’s principles and values are.
I feel understanding human behaviour could help me deal with people daily. The premise that drives people’s actions is often quite basic and simple, yet the damage could equally be inversely proportional.
Make use of a Milennial word, cringing is probably the best definition for dealing with people with whom I don’t click with. I know you know what I mean. There are currently a few people in my working life who make my stomach churn. What makes it churn? Dishonesty, hypocrisy, opportunism, and laziness.
They make our daily interactions intoxicating, they undermine our efforts to think positively, and they drain any resourcefulness we can possibly have. And when this type of people is located at two (sometimes three) levels of hierarchy, even worse. This totally throws my ethical trust in my employer in front of a bus.
The ability to recognise these people and step as far away as possible is a skill you gain over time, with experience. It’s not always easy, especially when your scope of work overlaps. How do we manage that without allowing it to completely ruin our day? It’s not an easy task, although simple. I find that what works for me is a trust in my gut (that my feelings will eventually be proven right, even though I may not have the front seat view) and a change in perception (that that person has no real impact on your life, in the grand scheme of things).
They call it “working smart, not hard”. Not sure that it is true. I’m not very supportive of many of the ways they consider “smart”. One thing is making use of the available resources to save time and money, the other is jumping over red tape or completely ignoring the rules to reach goals, only to find that one very important step was missed and cannot be retrieved. This is what the new generation is going for, in games they buy mods to jump over levels or checkpoints, at work they are totally unreliable as part of a team (they’re lazy and are often sick) or rather are simply in for their personal gain. Maybe they have it right and I’m wrong. Clearly, employment (stability) is a thing of the past. Job-hopping is way more fun.
As an Gen X female I question these generations’ values. How can companies hire someone that they cannot deem accountable on in the medium long term? I guess with AI, human resources are getting more and more disposable.
Online, they use “Likes” to their advantage, working their way up or grooming newcomers to do their bidding. This is today’s working world. But they do it casually too, as if they have no second intentions. Charity work, fundraising… The subtleties are there if you only pay attention.
However, dealing with these behaviours over time can wear us off. For me, at this age, it’s all about priorities as a means to reach my self-preservation end. We can only endure so much, and that capacity will be different for each individual, but the means definitely justify the end, as long as my well-being is not immediately at stake. I think I have been pretty clear in the recent past that I do not take bullying or abuse of authority well (actually, really proud of having stood up for myself there 🥰.)
Age has its benefits, for sure. And I’m glad it’s totally underrated. Nobody will see us coming…
I’m currently going through a phase where I am going through my daily motions as if on auto-pilot.
For a while now I feel like I’m only acting on prompts, only when my direct intervention is required. I no longer act by desire, by my own will. It’s like I’ve accomplished whatever I was meant to accomplish in my life. Yet I feel like I have achieved nothing.
Moving with the seasons
The current wellbeing trends encourage us to be grateful for our little wins. I’m trying. I’ve got a reasonably paid job, a loving family, two beautiful children, a wonderful partner, a sweet dog and plans for retirement are underway.
But there’s something missing. Something I seem to have lost along the way and can’t seem to get it back, no matter what I do.
Some more mystical theories defend that we should go with with the Universal flow, that what’s meant to be will be, and that the fact that we don’t have defined objectives doesn’t mean there aren’t any already pre-designed, that we may be resting from something we went through in a past lifenor preparing for what’s coming in the next. I kinda like that thought. It removes the feeling of guilt for the lack of ambition, I guess…
It’s misleading and overrated. We’re all being lead to think passive income is an easy way to an awful six-figures of free loading cash.
Came across an article that sums it up nicely yesterday. It’s more trouble than it’s worth. I’d rather start a business the good old way and actually see things happening than blindly pay someone to do the “leg work” for me.
I’ve got a few ideas. I am hoping our retirement doesn’t mean we’ll become hermits or useless. I really don’t see myself always at a loose end. I want to enjoy my retirement free time, but also feel busy.
Where the younger generation is looking for a lazy life, we’re looking for a full and somewhat busy (AND social) end of life. I wouldn’t want to get stuck working solely remotely, as convenient as that may sound. I can see myself running a small shop or a rural setting Zen retreat of a sort…
The new generations are now born into that mentality, becoming very reserved and geeky. Social may soon be scarce… How boring that all sounds 😝
I think I’d be a great host. Well, a girl can dream…
Being of Portuguese origin, everyone expects me to be a good cook, but I tell you I dread to cook. I do it from scratch because I like to know what I’m eating, and I like me and my family to eat healthy, same as my mum.
It’s been working. So far no medical conditions, no worse health issues than COVID. Especially now, on my menopause. Check!
Sometimes I feel inspired. Like today. (But I only get to be inspired on a weekend. Week days are too busy for that, I can’t just follow my creative flows…)
Salmon pasta salad is quite simple but soooo tasty! Staples: pasta, bell peppers, white onion, courgette, tomatoes, black olives and feta cheese. And of course, the salmon. It ticks all my needs boxes 😋
The spices you add are totally up to your taste buds. I tend to keep any natural juices As I added extra virgin olive oil (salt and pepper) to roast the vegies, all I had to add was balsamic vinegar.
“Menopause is the body’s way of handing you the microphone and saying, ‘Your turn.'”
These Facebook groups focused on relocation and early retirement only make the retirement perspective all the more appealing. How can you even dare to scroll past? This is how we wish we lived all our lives in the first place! Dreaming keeps us moving, gives us an objective. What’s life without one?
Great weather, great food, great health, great connections! It is all I need. 100% pure and unadulterated lazy happiness! 😍
I mean, how can you resist this happiness pull? All we all want is a simple, naturally affordable, healthy and fun life!
Everyone is travelling to find the living dream perfect spot. And (over)posting about it. Everyone doing the ground work for us, making it easier to find the spot.
I already narrowed down mine to half a dozen. Can you take a guess? Now it’s just a case of keeping an eye on the weather, world economics and politics 🥴
“Menopause: when the fire inside you matches your ambition.”
Keeping a healthy weight in a Mediterranean culture meant keeping a well-rounded body. When I stayed at my grandparents for the holidays, they would think a good set of chubby cheeks meant good health; it meant we were well-nourished. All a reflex of their life experience, of the poverty most of their generation went through. So they were amazing feeders, but feeders in times when the food we were eating was whole and fully organic, as they should naturally come. 🥰😛
I still remember male friends of mine saying they wouldn’t like to have sex with a woman so thin that you could feel her bones…😆 Being well-rounded didn’t mean overweight, it meant full-bodied. My parents were a little more ahead of their generation, considering they were not wealthy and had no access to additional information (no internet at the time, remember?), but they have always had a very grounded common sense, so they always compelled me to exercise – I’ve been naturally inclined to it too, myself – to use the calories of what I was eating, especially during my teenage years… My dad then enrolled me to this maintenance gymnastics class when I was 13. Later I took it just a step further and joined the club’s acrobatics competition gymnastics class. And I never stopped exercising since (no competition never really happened, studies and work got in the way.
Then, as I got into the adult life and my foodie culture haunted me, I joined lunch break maintenance classes, joined the gym, jogged a lot when I became a mother (actually pushed the chair!). I had to keep the balance…
As I reached perimenopause, my energy levels decreased, so I had to adapt the exercises to suit. In fact, when it was my brain fog that prompted me to find where I actually was in this journey. I Googled it up, read through a bunch of menopause-related articles and found this 12-week menopause meal & exercise plan that helped (and is still helping other women) since 2008, with well-researched and proven results. This was the end of 2021.
I learned a lot, been on and off the programme, but some rules stuck and I continue following them:
Exercises – targeting my situation
Meditation & Yoga
Staple foods (whole only) – no white products like: white pasta, white bread, white rice
Supplements – the nutrients my body is missing or produces in insufficient amounts
The main one was: if you are good 80% of the time, it’s ok to be naughty the other 20%.
The truth is we all want our lives to be long and happy, but that can only happen if we’re healthy mentally and physically. But that requires some effort and self-dedication, and sometimes it may mean making hard choices, like not drinking a glass of wine every night 😁. But it does mean that when we do get to have it, it will be enjoyed in full, feeling like a reward for good behaviour 🍷
Nostalgic Mumma 