Category Archives: Life Stressors

“The Storms of Life”

Life Stressors,

A friend of mine recently sent me the following quote.

You will not be the same after the storms of life:

You will be stronger, wiser and more alive than ever before.

Bryant McGill

What a lovely thought and something to hang on to through those tough times. I believe the first line to be completely and undeniably true.

Sadly, I question the second. I believe you are different, but as for “stronger” that depends on your definition of the word. Sometimes, to prevent future “storms”, or just to protect our souls, we create shields around ourselves, keeping others at a distance; all in an effort to ensure calm seas in our lives. When you have suffered terribly isn’t it natural to try your best to make sure it never happens again? But is that strength, or a loss of innocence and of trust?

However, I now think of some of the people I have mentioned throughout my various blogs, and I look back to the quote. Truly, Mr McGill must have met some of them when he wrote this; he must have known the amazing “strength” they all have in common, listened to their wisdom and been buoyed by the amount of life  in them.

They have survived the storms, but, more importantly, retained their humanity and compassion; remaining open to those storms yet to come.

Back to That Sunday Night Feeling

Life Stressors, The Weekend

Fair enough, I have a busy day tomorrow, but not anything I don’t actually enjoy doing so why oh why do I dread it sooooo much?

And, I have actually achieved quite a lot of the “stuff” I had hoped to so, again, why can’t I get my head space sorted?

If I could answer this one I think I would publish it and retire on the proceeds. That would be a very neat way out…………no more Sunday night feelings! Or maybe not..

Okay all you retired folks; do you still get this, or did it cease the day you handed in your work passes, company cars and fringe benefits??

 

A Touch of The Good Life

Life Stressors, The Weekend, work-life balance,

I have had the most beautiful experience to-day; a wonderful facial with a neck, shoulder and foot massage. It was heaven on earth and I think the lovely beautician, Hannah, has hands that are a gift from God !

This was a great Christmas present; last Christmas !

I wonder why I have put this off for so long, almost in fact until the gift voucher ran out of date. Why do so many women I know do the same thing? I think part of it, for me anyway, is the knowledge and comfort of having a bit of indulgence just a booking away, with no guilt attached as it is all paid for.  It’s like having an escape route at your finger tips, even if it is only for half a day, or an hour and a half like mine to-day.

The smells and soothing sounds, along with the wonderful Hannah, helped take the wrinkles out of my neck, shoulders, face and, most importantly, my mind. In this indulgent atmosphere I was able to take a more charitable and understanding view of the various happenings during the week. The feeling of peace allowed me to take a step back and look into my life from the outside, offering another perspective of different situations and, potentially, different solutions. This I reckon is the “peace” that so many of my friends, men and women, are searching for. It’s like switching off the white noise in your head.

Some people tell me you can train yourself to find this in your day-to-day life through meditation or “mindfulness”. I don’t know but I suppose I could try……. OR maybe I’ll just bring Hannah home with me!!

 

Common Decency?…..I wish !

Life Stressors,

How many times have you heard someone say, ” Well it’s just common decency….”

What do you think? How commonly do you find “decency” in your daily life?

I’m very lucky. I think I meet decency on a pretty regular basis but, sadly, not as much as perhaps I could. It seems to have gone out of fashion a bit; perhaps a bit “soft” now. How tragic that shock/horror have taken over and what will that mean for society?

That’s not difficult to answer when you look around. And yet…….

Now and again I see the green shoots of a return to the standards I remember from years gone by and, funnily enough, from the very age group you may have thought guilty of trashing the idea of “decency”. Perhaps the “shock factor” has become as boring and old hat as anything else given time. Perhaps young ones are looking at Miley’s “Twerking” and thinking “Oh, that’s so yesterday love. Get over it !”

A good friend of mine places being “decent” to one another, whether in business or private, above almost anything else and I’m inclined to agree. You don’t have to love or even like a person to behave decently towards them and wouldn’t that make for a better society, a decent one!

It’s the Small Stuff that Makes you Sweat!

Life Stressors

I understand, honestly I do. Take care of the big things in life and let the “small stuff” take care of itself.

But it’s the “small stuff” that gets you!!

I can get my head around the major decisions/issues, take time to compose my thoughts and sort out my coping mechanisms and then, the minutiae, the day-to-day dross, just knocks me on my ass. It sucks the life out of you and you think,

“Ugh, just kill me now.”

I suppose though, even this “stuff” can actually be spilt into two camps; the unavoidable crap that just IS, and the mind-numbing, nerve jangling shit that some people dream up and attach a huge importance to, as if to justify their existence.

It’s the futility of it all that is so frustrating. Each thing may be so petty, so insignificant and yet, when they all pile up, the effect can be shattering.

For Christmas I’m going to ask for an “Auto-Delete” button in my head, so I can discard this life-draining bilge before it gets a chance to ruin another day.