For some time now, I have been thinking about the meaning, and impact, of midlife crisis. Is this an emotional state, a physical/hormonal state, or perhaps both? How do these combine? This article is not a study of biology, but it does highlight the importance of the interaction between mind and body, and how they affect each other.

I recently participated in an online teleconference with a group of young people who have been living an expatriate life for some time. The focus of the conversation centred on the theme of 'belonging' and its meaning. Questions such as where do I belong, what do I belong to, what does home mean and where do we anchor our belonging in this world emerged as the common denominator.

COVID-19 has added an extra element of turbulence to our already busy lives. In my mind an image emerged that projected a world that seemed to have (almost) come to a standstill due to the pandemic. Life, as we knew it, was somewhat paralysed and, if not totally, at least slowed down and diverted by unexpected changes that certainly evoke different levels of uncertainty, anguish, fear and anger, among others. I thought it would be interesting to reflect on this situation and its possible implications depending on the 'stage of life' we are in and how 'hard' this situation 'hits' each of us.

Why do we sometimes feel that an emotion can take control of our lives in such a way that it inhibits our ability to think, affecting our behaviour and even our bodily functions? The aim of this short article is to try to shed some light on how to control our emotions in the framework of the never-ending internal dispute regarding how we react and/or respond to internal and/or external stimuli.

Remember those cowboy movies in which the 'youngsters' would appear on their beautiful, powerful steeds and spin their lasso in the air above their heads? If successful, they would jump off their horse and quickly overpower the steer. The animal would lie on the ground with its legs securely tied, feeling momentarily helpless as it was unable to move, let alone get up.