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Midlife Crisis
It has been a while since the last entry in my blog. I do not feel comfortable with the concept of ‘mass production’ articles. On the contrary, each one of my entries reflect an internal process of creativity and professional experience backed by theory within an ethical framework .
For some time now, I have been thinking about the meaning and the impact of midlife crisis. Is this an emotional state, or a physical/hormonal state, or maybe both? How are these combined? Please do not expect a biology study, however let us not forget the importance of the interaction between mind and body and how they affect each other.
Put in simple terms, it is a not story of chaos or disruption but of a difficult yet natural transition to a new equilibrium.... A transition of identity and self-confidence that can occur in middle-aged individuals, typically between ages of 40 and 60.
Lost and Found
The fact that we have recently been experiencing particularly difficult, confusing, strange and uncertain times is, of course, old news. Needless to say that COVID-19 has added an extra pinch of turbulence to our already busy lives.
In my mind, there was this image which projected a world that seemed to have come to an (almost) grinding halt due to the pandemic. Life, as we knew it, was somewhat put on hold and, if not completely so, at least it was slowed down and taken off track by unexpected changes that, in all likelihood, evoke different levels of uncertainty, fear, and anger, among other emotions. I thought that it would be interesting to reflect on this situation and its potential implications depending on the ‘stage in life’ we are at and how ‘hard’ this situation ‘hits’ each one of us.
In this regard, as I was watching the pouring rain from my office window on a dark cloudy day, I started mentally reviewing, and iterating, on the impact the actual circumstances are still having on us and how these have affected the way we interact with our internal and external worlds.
Where do I Belong?
It has been a while since I last posted an entry in my blog. The truth is I do not feel comfortable with the concept of ‘mass production’ articles. Instead, I tend to make sure that each one of my posts, backed by theory and ethical frameworks, combine originality with professional experience.
A few weeks ago, while confined at home as per health authorities’ directions on Covid-19, I engaged in a multiple online conversation with a group of young people who have lived an expats’ life for some time now. The focus of the conversation was around the subject of ‘belonging’ and its meaning.
Questions like where do I belong, what do I belong to, what does home mean and where do we anchor our belonging in this world appeared as the common denominator.
React or Respond….
That is the Question! Well… I know that you are more likely to be familiar with the original words ‘To be or not to be… that is the question’. But today, however, and if you don’t mind, I would like to take the liberty of using this somewhat tweaked version of Mr. William Shakespeare’s profound intellectual challenge, one which, in my opinion, also deserves lots of thinking and attention.
Why is it that sometimes we feel that an emotion can take over our lives in a way such that it inhibits our ability to think, affects our behavior and even our body functions?
So, the aim of this short article would be that of trying to shed some light on how to manage our emotions in that never-ending internal dispute relative to how we react and/or respond to internal and/or external stimuli.
The 'Lasso' Effect
Do you remember those cowboys’ movies where the young and handsome man shows off in front of her sweetheart during a rodeo? He would be riding his beautiful, powerful horse and moving up in the air his lasso. Suddenly focuses on the animal he is chasing, throws his lasso and, if successful, jumps off the horse to quickly rope the calf. The animal will lay on the ground, his legs tightly bound and becoming eminently trapped and, momentarily, defenseless as it will be unable to move.
The cowboy wins, the calf loses......
How sweet it is to mature
Last week, as I was walking my aging dog Elvis, I caught myself deep in thought about how wonderful an experience it is that of receiving from him true, unconditional love. At some point I started reflecting on what, other than the blessing of having had him with me already for a bit more than 14 years, have I learned from this very special relationship.
Failing to find an answer after ‘testing’ a few rather complicated theories (as we are all tempted to do in the first instance), it came to my mind that the explanation might well lay in the simple fact that his love for me, his master, is pure, unassuming, unconditional and unquestionable. But this is something that everybody knows, so what is the real issue here?
Talking About Daydreaming
All our lives we are told to focus, concentrate and stay on the task. This is definitely a good advice and, those who follow it, probably feel they are very responsible and even successful people. And perhaps they are.
However, keeping our ‘heads down’ throughout the entire school or workday is, if not impossible, an extremely hard task to achieve. Our brains need some break, and daydreaming is one of the ‘mechanisms’ it uses. Although of course we can dismiss or ignore any thoughts, in the long run this is likely to create internal pressure that may lead to building up stress and anxiety which, in turn, will have an impact on our general wellbeing.
Discovering our Identity
I have to admit that it was a bit of a challenge to go ahead and write my first blog post, even more since I wanted this article to be different and, perhaps, special. At least not in the style we usually read elsewhere. Then I realized that, even if I write about subjects that many other people do, mine are going to be different simply because they come from the uniqueness of who I am. So, this realization inspired me to write about ‘‘Identity’. In other words, a few thoughts on who we are and how different (if any at all) we are from other people.
