Showing posts with label reflection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reflection. Show all posts

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Plagiarism rules

The following post was initially shared on Linked In.  I've expanded to post on other blogs to weigh in on public opinion.  Is there any recourse or protection for employees?  Tell me what you think:

Cake wars are on fire:  claims of plagiarism unfold on Twitter.  It is a cake boss of the inauguration kind.  


Sadly, if you are renowned in some way and your craft is shared online you are exposed to plagiarism.

But what do you do if you are not renowned in any way, a mere blogger who shares ideas openly to help others?

What if your blog logo, an orange, is used as a logo for an internal initiative by the company you work for?  How do you prove that the idea stemmed from your own creativity and borrowed or used?  

The same logo I unveiled on my blog was adopted by a corporate initiative:  coincidence?  Recourse? 


Aren't you glad I chose orange?


Does it even matter?   Coincidence or not?  How can one make such claims when the logo is used internally and not for public scrutiny?

I can certainly say that I was not, am not, involved in any form of marketing, messaging or creative for said company.  

Outrage?  Controversy?  Not me.  I probably was naive initially, taking it as a compliment that one of my ideas would be adopted by any company.    I continually safeguard my opinions as my own and not that of my employer.    Do I really own my ideas while earning a pay cheque?  

If you are an online personality or enthusiast who's ideas began long before working for the company.  Still, you have to ensure that you remove your opinions from associating with any company you work for ... now or in the past.   What about while various policing by companies to ensure you are not slandering the company, disclosing confidential information, or saying anything negative, they have you on their watch list that you cannot prove, as it is undercover cloaked in disguise.  


ORANGE


Then voila, your idea, information, logo is adopted! You are really handcuffed to not say anything: avoid appearing negative or open for discipline or loss of job for making claims that would not appear to be obvious. 

Intellectual capital ownership really belongs to you or the company you work for?  

There are safeguards in place for artists, musicians, writers for their protection from plagiarism.   Safe to say, it protects their intellectual, artistic capital.  If you read many Code of Ethics you sign with an organization you are paid by, you relinquish any creativity or ideas you come up with.  Doesn't that cover those that are credited, recognized and are compensated for coming up with ideas and not a lowly person on the totem pole who expresses ideas unrelated to the company?  

I'm curious what others think about this?  Try to claim ownership rightfully.  Ask to be recognized properly.  Or, keep the trap shut?


Sunday, January 15, 2017

Friday the 13th



A tenth anniversary too
Life can't get any more interesting than mulling over the fact that yesterday was my 10th Wedding Anniversary .... then it hit me that it WAS Friday the 13th.  My mom questioned the wisdom of getting married on the date with 13th.  

Wouldn't that be bad luck?
I reckoned that since my husband, the Hunkster Hubster, I affectionately call him was born on the 13th of December, you couldn't get any luckier than that, because 2x13=26 so it really isn't bad luck.  If you take his birth month and birth date, you get 25 (12+13) ... with mine as 22 (04+18) making him ODD and me even.



A full moon risen
to add intrigue to the insight, we have a beautiful winter moon.  It doesn't get more surreal than this:  a ghostly moon because of the artic air descended upon us, a fainted white.  From the reflection of the snow and crystals casting about a diamond glow.

The future for sure
How back then I probably imagined what our life would be like.   Because there were a few things we both felt strongly about:

  • our kids
  • making a family
  • home



Blended dreams
folded into goals.  To bring together four really quite bright kids and wish for the best.  We blended more than our kids, we began new traditions that today envelope wonderful memories.  

Almost comical
as to what we worried about back then.  Would the Princess eat at the table with the rest of the royalty, whom were never allowed to treat her as though she invaded our home.  Do we really expect to continue to sit at the table for dinner every single night, as he'd observed as our home life.  



Upheaval be damn
was my battle cry.  I would never allow normalcy be invaded by doom.  The best to hang on to are the traditions that were mired in each other's parents homes.  A nightly dinner with a tastefully set table was as normal as it ever has been in years since.  

Soccer teams
and soccer moms.  Lined up on the field, relaxing with a cup of usually Tim Horton's coffee.  Known to be different, mine would be star bucks in a thermos,
a throwback to the days I spent at the arena in my youth, with a sparkle in my eye that I would become a member of the Ice Capades in a few short years.  If I worked hard.  Even after I started to be able to drive myself to those 6 a.m. skates, my mom would always make me some hot chocolate in a thermos to have between figures and free skate or dance.   One of those things you take for granted, become implanted with habits carried into our adulthood, parenthood.



And a dog named Buddy
Our best friend, companion, faithful, loyal, protective guardian of our hearts.  I'm talking about all of us.  Realizing now, how difficult it was to trust again, to give someone else your heart, so fearful of having it trampled upon.  Again.

10 years of craziness
I would be remiss or untruthful if I said anything otherwise.  Yikes.  Three girls in their hormonal prime:  12, 13, 15 years old.  Then the sole boy 17 then.  The girls took their turns with their theatrics and drama a heart beat away.  By the two older girls, not the baby of the family, a girl.   She hung back, took it all in, keen to observe.  And learn.  To be better than them at causing parents heart attacks and heart ache at such potential being thrown away.



How far we've come since
One daughter married, another one kicking ass in university, the other one killing it in Vancouver, starting to really shine.  It is really rewarding to watch how they blossom.  Even the, at times, lonely son.  Such strong character, work ethic and morals gracefully etched into their beings.  The blending together must have really worked.  A bond created among all, including the new brother by married for the son.  

What wasted time worrying is
Try as much as you want, someone else is steering your life.  Is it God?  Is it fate?  Is it by design?  You are on a worldly path, setting strong examples for your children in your own beliefs, morals and kindness you try to uphold.  The Hunkster Hubster is a very strong man.  Not just in stature but in demeanor and presence.  How cool for someone to have such an anchor, from within themselves.



You may wonder what's your path?
..... are you on track, been misguided, failed or succeeded?  Life laughs at its own sense of humor as you discover you already have.  Creating this peaceful, safe, nucleus of family, is a success many dream of.  

Except now the table is bigger
and will eventually grow even more.  As grandchildren and boyfriends and praying for wife and more husbands build and grow from the foundation.  Of two apprehensive in taking a risk on love.  For the most part, our home is still the focal point in most of our lives.  Drifting in importance other times.  



Contentment and peacefulness
is an art of the life kind.  To be home, with just the Hunkster Hubster and our faithful companion, Buddy, the dog.  Is bliss and oasis rolled into one.  I could be at home 24/7.  Without a blip.  Writing and painting, cooking and creating an ever evolving home and garden.  It really is where I want to be most of the times.

Paradise in blue green waters
pull me back in my reflection of the past 10 years.  There have been life events and priorities that have prevented that annual honeymoon in far away places we wanted to explore together.



I worry a little
that we wont get a chance to again, since it was annual up until after the fourth year.  A go at a company, primarily run by my husband, when it was suppose to be forward march together.  I acted on the gleam in my eye that was caused by a great career opportunity so my focus was sporadic.  

If I only I knew then 
what I know now how things would have been different.  Using the internet and social media to market the company since time was a limited resource available for contribution back then.  



Building trust and memories
is never an easy feat.  Yet we have done so together, mildly so since the baby of the family left two years, almost three years ago.  Restored or instilled into sharing our life together.

Now is as important as ever
as we are in our fifties and wise to the twists and turns and speedbumps that can surface unexpectedly.  While firm in the commitment, the contentment found with each other's company.  We like it.  We enjoy it.  I can't imagine spending it with anyone else.


Happy Anniversary Love



xoxoxoxoxo Jeannette

Friday, December 16, 2016

The definition of insanity?

Illusional | Amy Cochrane | Flickr



So do you know this question::… 
what is the definition of insanity?


Have you ever heard the answer followed immediately thereafter?


Do you know the answer?


IT IS:  The definition of insanity:  doing things over and over again expecting different results.


To me, insanity has typically aligned with something else OR someone else.  



I’ve used the term fairly often as a sales managing coaching her reps.  I have been employed, up until now, in predominately male-dominated industries such as digital printing, document management, fleet management, office services, outsourcing, infrastructure project management.  To name a few too many I’m sure.  After all this time, until I placed fingers on a keyboard, alternating the right with a mouse, I discovered that the quote is attributed to Albert Einstein.  Huh!  I didn’t know that.  I do know that I seem to gravitate towards his quotes, more than any other singular person.  Followed closely by Mother Teresa:





Do you ever get to the level that you feel yourself physically tense up or completely let go and sob while you cry your eyes out?  You’re exceptionally lucky if you haven’t, or insane being so unrealistic or void of any reaction to anything.  Therein the definition resources sits “narcissism” nestled along with all the other deranged words like madness, lunacy and derangement.

Illusion Art by Rob Gonsalves illusion art …


Excuse me dictionary people.  I did take exception to “dementia” being thrown in, like any innocent victim thrown in with the lions.  I hardly think that a medical condition that surfaces with advanced aging can in any way say that the person is “insane”.  Forgetful, lost touch with reality, where everyone becomes a stranger.

What Is Dementia?

Text Size controlsNormal font sizeMedium font sizeLarge font size

http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.3748f7cda49448f6c6f7854238570ba0.en.html#dnt=true&id=twitter-widget-0&lang=en&original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alz.org%2Fwhat-is-dementia.asp%23Symptoms&size=m&text=Dementia%20%E2%80%93%20Signs%2C%20Symptoms%2C%20Causes%2C%20Tests%2C%20Treatment%2C%20Care%20%7C%20alz.org&time=1481914539929&type=share&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alz.org%2Fwhat-is-dementia.asp%23Symptoms&via=alzassociation

dementia-symptoms-and-brain changes Dementia is a general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life. Memory loss is an example. Alzheimer’s is the most common type of dementia.
About Dementia
Symptoms
Causes 
Diagnosis
Treatments
Risk & Prevention

About dementia

Find out what how typical age-related memory loss compares to early signs of Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
Learn the signs.

Dementia is not a specific disease. It’s an overall term that describes a wide range of symptomsassociated with a decline in memory or other thinking skills severe enough to reduce a person’s ability to perform everyday activities. Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 60 to 80 percent of cases. Vascular dementia, which occurs after a stroke, is the second most common dementia type. But there are many other conditions that can cause symptoms of dementia, including some that are reversible, such as thyroid problems and vitamin deficiencies.
Dementia is often incorrectly referred to as “senility” or “senile dementia,” which reflects the formerly widespread but incorrect belief that serious mental decline is a normal part of aging.
Learn more: Common Types of DementiaWhat is Alzheimer’s?


Memory loss and other symptoms of dementia

Many people have memory loss issues — this does not mean they have Alzheimer’s or another dementia

There are many different causes of memory problems. If you or a loved one is experiencing troubling symptoms, visit a doctor to learn the reason. Some causes of dementia-like symptoms can be reversed.

Learn more: Visiting Your Doctor

While symptoms of dementia can vary greatly, at least two of the following core mental functions must be significantly impaired to be considered dementia:

  • Memory
  • Communication and language
  • Ability to focus and pay attention
  • Reasoning and judgment
  • Visual perception

People with dementia may have problems with short-term memory, keeping track of a purse or wallet, paying bills, planning and preparing meals, remembering appointments or traveling out of the neighborhood.
Many dementias are progressive, meaning symptoms start out slowly and gradually get worse. If you or a loved one is experiencing memory difficulties or other changes in thinking skills, don’t ignore them. See a doctor soon to determine the cause. Professional evaluation may detect a treatable condition. And even if symptoms suggest dementia, early diagnosis allows a person to get the maximum benefit from available treatments and provides an opportunity to volunteer for clinical trials or studies. It also provides time to plan for the future.
Learn more: 10 Warning SignsStages of Alzheimer’s 


Well that certainly throws curve balls at anyone over the age of 50, one can only imagine.  I think back to when I was in my 20s, if asked:  “what is your greatest fear?”  I may have answered:  fire or a tornadoe (living in the Province of southern Alberta, it isn’t something we often have to concern ourselves with, even though we have seen funnel clouds).


Once you hit your 50s you do a major inventory on your life.  Not anything like the mild TO DOs by the time you hit your 30s.  It is a massive awakening.  A self-reflection and a dreaded comparison.


Whatever the predictors are saying.  If they are saying that my generation (born in the 1960s) had a tougher life than my parents did.  They would be right.


If you look at building a graph on life benchmarks, there would be a really steady climb for baby boomers and war babies on a ladder of steps.


However, if you take the typical 1960s baby, there would be no steady, even flowed climb.  It would look more like something out of radical dips and arrows.


Nothing is predictable.  Yet we uphold the belief that our world will return to sanity once again.  There were so many things that one could take for granted at one time, that it seems so lucky when someone born in the era of optimism on the one hand destroyed by fear and pending possibility of war.   


Then you sail through the innocence in comparison of the times going through upheaval and major changes, that made such large registration on our radar.


We somehow hung on to our innocence during the corruption of the early 70s and disruptions caused by war.  In both scenarios, we were hardly old enough to typically have it in our sphere of influence yet we became intuitive to the moods of our elders, parents, teachers and any other authority figures we were polite, well mannered and respectful to.

About now, many of us into our 50s are wondering or writing or saying out loud:  “stop the insanity”.  Yet it continues to circle around us.  


We tend to be dissatisfied because of the infrequency of peaceful surroundings, vibes, events in our lives if I were to hazard to guess.  We seem to be more comfortable in chaos than in solitude or quietness.  


We strive for mindfulness, as in being only concerned with the present moment … and this moment … and this moment.  Failing miserably at avoiding the major pitfall of not looking at the future, never mind in the pit of continual worry about what tomorrow will bring.


A person can be warming their car up outside while they are putting the finishing touches on their thermos of dark roast french-pressed Italian coffee  and the telephone rings.  That isn’t really that unusual, just so different than when we were growing up.


People riding their 50s grew up at a time when there were minimal phones around.  I almost giggle when I recall, how great my parents were at installing our one central phone in the kitchen with an extra long cord so that we could sneak around the corner to have a “private conversation”.


My father, like many fathers, had a big important job and came home to a hot dinner with his family, who were waiting by the set table for his arrival home so we could eat (the peanut butter and jam sandwich when we got home at 3 o’clock didn’t seem to ever tide us over in satisfaction).  From that moment on, among dinner chatter with my 3 siblings and parents, the phone answering was always my dad.  


My dad would almost grin in pleasure when there was no answer.  He was happiest when he knew he had scared off any boys  calling for one of us girls.  If I wasn’t around and the phone was off its cradle, my sister Diana had a fondness for picking up the phone and taking the call as though it were me.  Where was I?  Waiting outside the door to the one bathroom in our house that six people shared for one of brothers to exit in a fume of normal bodily function that would seriously disarm and impair the next innocent victim of their own bladder.  We didn’t have bathroom fans.  


My dad would reign on the couch for the rest of the evening.  If we were allowed to go out past dark, when we returned home we were required to give our father a kiss on the cheek before retiring to bed.  He was able to swiftly take a whiff like a hound dog of our breath, on the ever-ready mode to pounce if we would (hardly) have been stupid enough to take a sip of alcohol on the way home or stumbling home from a party.  I can never reason, nor did I ever ask him (that, I do regret) HOW WILD was he growing up?  That time when he was growing up and young men were signing up to go to World War II.  He would have been too young, yet as soon as he turned 18, he did sign up.  I guess that was the influences he had.


We have to stop comparing our lives to our parents lives or how fortunate in some ways we seem to have had it than our own children do now.  


It wasn’t a question of affording to go to university as much as when.  There was no grand scheme of childhood education funds or anything much other than a good savings nest egg.


So why in our lives, in the age of 50 plus, are we striving so hard to have the same lives as our parents did when they were 50?  Possibly because we don’t nor can have the assumption that we will take our education and apply that good ole home loyalty to your employer mentality we were brought up with, to only have that loyalty reciprocated void without any guarantee that we won’t have a job for 30 or 40 years and receive a gold watch at your retirement party.


It wasn’t unusual in the infancy of my career even to attend a retirement get together to say farewell to the work well and best wishes to the mellow years to follow.  That seemed to be natural up until the end of the 90s it would seem.  Not that there aren’t any.  Its just that most of them are on movie sets and television shows.


So why do we long for that same peacefulness and steady flow that our parents enjoyed?  They would certainly point out effectively that they, too, had many challenges during their living years.  


It is time to stop the insanity and stand on our tippie toes and reach the farthest out to try to understand the tide we’re on, when it will slow down, or if we’ll ever make it to coasting.


This should be your statesman or woman years.  You’ve had your ups and downs and earned your stripes by now.  But we forget, that is not the sign of our times.  We have to stop trying to reach out, comparing ourselves to others or to whom we thought we would be by now and we have to avoid worrying about tomorrow.  Today and this minute is the only thing we can actively participate in and do anything about.  

Illusional | Amy Cochrane | Flickr





The reasoning would be that we are the only ones who are truly in control of our destiny.  If we fall into mental health issues, depression or are illusional that it will get different, a lottery win around the corner, is up to us.

in·san·i·ty
inˈsanədē/
noun
  1. the state of being seriously mentally ill; madness.
    “he suffered from bouts of insanity”
    synonyms: mental illness, madnessdementiaMore

via Blogger http://ift.tt/2h9Aeqy

via Blogger http://ift.tt/2hEy9Ul


The definition of insanity?

Illusional | Amy Cochrane | Flickr



So do you know this question::… 
what is the definition of insanity?


Have you ever heard the answer followed immediately thereafter?


Do you know the answer?


IT IS:  The definition of insanity:  doing things over and over again expecting different results.


To me, insanity has typically aligned with something else OR someone else.  



I’ve used the term fairly often as a sales managing coaching her reps.  I have been employed, up until now, in predominately male-dominated industries such as digital printing, document management, fleet management, office services, outsourcing, infrastructure project management.  To name a few too many I’m sure.  After all this time, until I placed fingers on a keyboard, alternating the right with a mouse, I discovered that the quote is attributed to Albert Einstein.  Huh!  I didn’t know that.  I do know that I seem to gravitate towards his quotes, more than any other singular person.  Followed closely by Mother Teresa:





Do you ever get to the level that you feel yourself physically tense up or completely let go and sob while you cry your eyes out?  You’re exceptionally lucky if you haven’t, or insane being so unrealistic or void of any reaction to anything.  Therein the definition resources sits “narcissism” nestled along with all the other deranged words like madness, lunacy and derangement.

Illusion Art by Rob Gonsalves illusion art …


Excuse me dictionary people.  I did take exception to “dementia” being thrown in, like any innocent victim thrown in with the lions.  I hardly think that a medical condition that surfaces with advanced aging can in any way say that the person is “insane”.  Forgetful, lost touch with reality, where everyone becomes a stranger.

What Is Dementia?

Text Size controlsNormal font sizeMedium font sizeLarge font size

http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.3748f7cda49448f6c6f7854238570ba0.en.html#dnt=true&id=twitter-widget-0&lang=en&original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alz.org%2Fwhat-is-dementia.asp%23Symptoms&size=m&text=Dementia%20%E2%80%93%20Signs%2C%20Symptoms%2C%20Causes%2C%20Tests%2C%20Treatment%2C%20Care%20%7C%20alz.org&time=1481914539929&type=share&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alz.org%2Fwhat-is-dementia.asp%23Symptoms&via=alzassociation

dementia-symptoms-and-brain changes Dementia is a general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life. Memory loss is an example. Alzheimer’s is the most common type of dementia.
About Dementia
Symptoms
Causes 
Diagnosis
Treatments
Risk & Prevention

About dementia

Find out what how typical age-related memory loss compares to early signs of Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
Learn the signs.

Dementia is not a specific disease. It’s an overall term that describes a wide range of symptomsassociated with a decline in memory or other thinking skills severe enough to reduce a person’s ability to perform everyday activities. Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 60 to 80 percent of cases. Vascular dementia, which occurs after a stroke, is the second most common dementia type. But there are many other conditions that can cause symptoms of dementia, including some that are reversible, such as thyroid problems and vitamin deficiencies.
Dementia is often incorrectly referred to as “senility” or “senile dementia,” which reflects the formerly widespread but incorrect belief that serious mental decline is a normal part of aging.
Learn more: Common Types of DementiaWhat is Alzheimer’s?


Memory loss and other symptoms of dementia

Many people have memory loss issues — this does not mean they have Alzheimer’s or another dementia

There are many different causes of memory problems. If you or a loved one is experiencing troubling symptoms, visit a doctor to learn the reason. Some causes of dementia-like symptoms can be reversed.

Learn more: Visiting Your Doctor

While symptoms of dementia can vary greatly, at least two of the following core mental functions must be significantly impaired to be considered dementia:

  • Memory
  • Communication and language
  • Ability to focus and pay attention
  • Reasoning and judgment
  • Visual perception

People with dementia may have problems with short-term memory, keeping track of a purse or wallet, paying bills, planning and preparing meals, remembering appointments or traveling out of the neighborhood.
Many dementias are progressive, meaning symptoms start out slowly and gradually get worse. If you or a loved one is experiencing memory difficulties or other changes in thinking skills, don’t ignore them. See a doctor soon to determine the cause. Professional evaluation may detect a treatable condition. And even if symptoms suggest dementia, early diagnosis allows a person to get the maximum benefit from available treatments and provides an opportunity to volunteer for clinical trials or studies. It also provides time to plan for the future.
Learn more: 10 Warning SignsStages of Alzheimer’s 


Well that certainly throws curve balls at anyone over the age of 50, one can only imagine.  I think back to when I was in my 20s, if asked:  “what is your greatest fear?”  I may have answered:  fire or a tornadoe (living in the Province of southern Alberta, it isn’t something we often have to concern ourselves with, even though we have seen funnel clouds).


Once you hit your 50s you do a major inventory on your life.  Not anything like the mild TO DOs by the time you hit your 30s.  It is a massive awakening.  A self-reflection and a dreaded comparison.


Whatever the predictors are saying.  If they are saying that my generation (born in the 1960s) had a tougher life than my parents did.  They would be right.


If you look at building a graph on life benchmarks, there would be a really steady climb for baby boomers and war babies on a ladder of steps.


However, if you take the typical 1960s baby, there would be no steady, even flowed climb.  It would look more like something out of radical dips and arrows.


Nothing is predictable.  Yet we uphold the belief that our world will return to sanity once again.  There were so many things that one could take for granted at one time, that it seems so lucky when someone born in the era of optimism on the one hand destroyed by fear and pending possibility of war.   


Then you sail through the innocence in comparison of the times going through upheaval and major changes, that made such large registration on our radar.


We somehow hung on to our innocence during the corruption of the early 70s and disruptions caused by war.  In both scenarios, we were hardly old enough to typically have it in our sphere of influence yet we became intuitive to the moods of our elders, parents, teachers and any other authority figures we were polite, well mannered and respectful to.

About now, many of us into our 50s are wondering or writing or saying out loud:  “stop the insanity”.  Yet it continues to circle around us.  


We tend to be dissatisfied because of the infrequency of peaceful surroundings, vibes, events in our lives if I were to hazard to guess.  We seem to be more comfortable in chaos than in solitude or quietness.  


We strive for mindfulness, as in being only concerned with the present moment … and this moment … and this moment.  Failing miserably at avoiding the major pitfall of not looking at the future, never mind in the pit of continual worry about what tomorrow will bring.


A person can be warming their car up outside while they are putting the finishing touches on their thermos of dark roast french-pressed Italian coffee  and the telephone rings.  That isn’t really that unusual, just so different than when we were growing up.


People riding their 50s grew up at a time when there were minimal phones around.  I almost giggle when I recall, how great my parents were at installing our one central phone in the kitchen with an extra long cord so that we could sneak around the corner to have a “private conversation”.


My father, like many fathers, had a big important job and came home to a hot dinner with his family, who were waiting by the set table for his arrival home so we could eat (the peanut butter and jam sandwich when we got home at 3 o’clock didn’t seem to ever tide us over in satisfaction).  From that moment on, among dinner chatter with my 3 siblings and parents, the phone answering was always my dad.  


My dad would almost grin in pleasure when there was no answer.  He was happiest when he knew he had scared off any boys  calling for one of us girls.  If I wasn’t around and the phone was off its cradle, my sister Diana had a fondness for picking up the phone and taking the call as though it were me.  Where was I?  Waiting outside the door to the one bathroom in our house that six people shared for one of brothers to exit in a fume of normal bodily function that would seriously disarm and impair the next innocent victim of their own bladder.  We didn’t have bathroom fans.  


My dad would reign on the couch for the rest of the evening.  If we were allowed to go out past dark, when we returned home we were required to give our father a kiss on the cheek before retiring to bed.  He was able to swiftly take a whiff like a hound dog of our breath, on the ever-ready mode to pounce if we would (hardly) have been stupid enough to take a sip of alcohol on the way home or stumbling home from a party.  I can never reason, nor did I ever ask him (that, I do regret) HOW WILD was he growing up?  That time when he was growing up and young men were signing up to go to World War II.  He would have been too young, yet as soon as he turned 18, he did sign up.  I guess that was the influences he had.


We have to stop comparing our lives to our parents lives or how fortunate in some ways we seem to have had it than our own children do now.  


It wasn’t a question of affording to go to university as much as when.  There was no grand scheme of childhood education funds or anything much other than a good savings nest egg.


So why in our lives, in the age of 50 plus, are we striving so hard to have the same lives as our parents did when they were 50?  Possibly because we don’t nor can have the assumption that we will take our education and apply that good ole home loyalty to your employer mentality we were brought up with, to only have that loyalty reciprocated void without any guarantee that we won’t have a job for 30 or 40 years and receive a gold watch at your retirement party.


It wasn’t unusual in the infancy of my career even to attend a retirement get together to say farewell to the work well and best wishes to the mellow years to follow.  That seemed to be natural up until the end of the 90s it would seem.  Not that there aren’t any.  Its just that most of them are on movie sets and television shows.


So why do we long for that same peacefulness and steady flow that our parents enjoyed?  They would certainly point out effectively that they, too, had many challenges during their living years.  


It is time to stop the insanity and stand on our tippie toes and reach the farthest out to try to understand the tide we’re on, when it will slow down, or if we’ll ever make it to coasting.


This should be your statesman or woman years.  You’ve had your ups and downs and earned your stripes by now.  But we forget, that is not the sign of our times.  We have to stop trying to reach out, comparing ourselves to others or to whom we thought we would be by now and we have to avoid worrying about tomorrow.  Today and this minute is the only thing we can actively participate in and do anything about.  

Illusional | Amy Cochrane | Flickr





The reasoning would be that we are the only ones who are truly in control of our destiny.  If we fall into mental health issues, depression or are illusional that it will get different, a lottery win around the corner, is up to us.

in·san·i·ty
inˈsanədē/
noun
  1. the state of being seriously mentally ill; madness.
    “he suffered from bouts of insanity”
    synonyms: mental illness, madnessdementiaMore

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