What will the world be like in 50 years time? Try to be optimistic about it!

In 50 years, if I live that long, I will be 93 years old! The time to wait until then is longer than my current time on this earth. There are so many things to complain about...from daily chores to global warming, so its a bit hard to think of an optimistic prediction for this earth.

We live in an era of dynamic change. My profession - marketing communication, did not even exist 10 years ago as a true discipline of its own, and even now there are positions that still also mix secretarial or accounting with MarCom. Not to mention that when I graduated from university 18 years ago and I started my career, the profession simply did not exist. Hey, the Internet was just started out and email was a novelty on my first job! I even remember operating a Telex machine on one of my summer jobs as a teenager (Telex machines came even before the fax...).

When I think of all that has already changed in the world during my adulthood I feel positively ancient, although I am but 43 years of age! But this era of change, which is only becoming faster and faster (My eldest son was born before the smartphone, but my daughter was born into the iPhone era) I find it most difficult to write about any prognosis 50 years into the future.

I ask myself, will it really look like one big modern space station? Will the new modern city look like a scene form Star Trek? Or perhaps we will deplete all the reserves of our planets so that my children will have to move back to caves! and how shall we live without fuel and electricity? When I was a child, many TV series dealt with this theme, the depletion of the earth and return to ancient lifestyles alone side some innovative technologies...put a super hero or a mad scientist into that scenario and you have a promising concept for a TV show in the 1980's...

While I am trying to write about the future, I find myself mentioning the past more and more. Well the future is truly unknown, that's the whole point, isn't it? I want to hope that in 50 years time, when my children are adults in the middle of life, just as I am now, they will be able to indeed live in a better world. A world in which many differences and conflict would have been settled. A world in which religion and faith were not abused by extremists and politicians. A world that combines modern technology with good old traditional community and communication. A world that is not all cold modernity, but also warm nature, a world with more freedom.

Its a world in which we use innovation for the benefit of mankind and the preservation of the earth and its resources. A world, in which we know how to better look after our world and all the people in it. We can each do out bit to work towards such a future. Recycle a bit, learn about other cultures, smooth over differences in one's own circles and educate your children towards values of empowerment, sharing, assistance and development. Take your baby steps that will eventually accumulate towards the goal, one by one. These wishes are not just fluff! But I also hope that 50 years is enough to realize some of these objectives, I am a realist, but one can stop for a moment, and simply hope.

Earthquake!

I have not written for a week! Its been a whirlwind of work!
The prompts , I am happy to discover, are taking on a more creative writing streak, now that the holiday season is over! yeh!

The prompt was:
First it was slow, then a violent force ran through the house and everything started to shake.  Your first reaction was to...

and I wrote:
Scream! Earthquake!!!!!!!!!!!!

The second thing I did was start running scenarios in my mind, as I mindlessly started looking for the children. What do all the safety experts always say? Hide under the table, stand inside a doorway, leave the building ASAP! Where are the kids??

Everything started crashing down around me. I felt heavy, I could not move! I was trying to run but could not get away! I felt slow, sucked into a terrible new reality. Everything was ruined! the house in shambles! Where ARE the KIDS?????

I call for help and my mouth is dry with dust as debris continues to fall! I cannot see anything! I am stuck in a dark hole, but I am not crushed! The mind begins to ask questions again. Why am I not crushed? what is holding all that cement over my head and not letting it all crash down on me? there is no pain.

I feel as if I am floating away and there is no one in sight, its all a dusty fog! I hear from the distance the voice of my son, muffled and far away..."Mommy wake up! mommy!!!"

I feel that I am being pulled out of my dark hole! Saved! By my own wonderful and brave son! They are here! the rescuers. I am being pulled and shaken about. I feel myself shaking from side to side, just like the last time we had an earthquake here, which woke me up - shaking from side to side, lulled to wakefulness in my bed..."Mommy! Mommy! Wake up!" The voice is clearer and nearer now! I am seeing the light...everything is going to be OK (just like my initials...ha ha)!

And... then I wake up!

Another new day! Kids to school, breakfast to prepare, get dressed! Its cold but the sun is shining!

Like my motto: Everything is going to be OK!

Quality of life indicators.

the prompt was : "If you knew you only had 6 months to live, how would you live your life differently? "
Well I think this is a question about one's own definitions as to the quality of one;s life...
Here is my answer.

This is a hard one, because what its essentially asking is what I would try to fix into my daily routine, and also what adventures or dreams i want to fulfill.  Its the two extremes of unfulfillment and lack of satisfaction.

So how would I make my life more satisfying int he twp extremes: baby steps and small routine changes vs. the BIG ONE?

The BIG ONE would be to travel and see the world. Just take some time off to see special places that I think I will only be travelling to after I retire from work or when the kids grow up (hey maybe I can go travelling with them then...if they will have me). India and the far east, south america, Australia, Alaska/ south pole...

On the other hand I think that I would like to leave something behind me, for posterity - so maybe the BIG ONE would be to actually take the time to write ab book, only I do not know what I would write about...

The smaller routine changes would be to make more time for my kids, stress out less, learn to relax, take a weekend or two off with my husband alone, see more theater performances, and see more of my friends. I guess that writing in this platform is also a small change I have undertaken on the road to the "writing a (GOOD) book" dream...

I believe that the small changes need to be undertaken even if one is not sick, we need to stop and remind ourselves that quality of life is important! But its easier to preach this on the keyboard than to actually practice it...

The BIG ONE is indeed a quantum leap, but perhaps it too can be divided to realistic chunks...like writing these posts, I could undertake to travel to one place at a time, its just that right now our vacation time is all booked up with annual family visits, I hope in a few year's time e will be able to vary the destinations too...In the meantime, finding the energy to drive out with the family for an outing is sometimes a challenge after an especially busy week...

There are also things I would NOT change. I would not change where I live or my family ties. I love my kids to distraction and cannot imaging my life without them or mother hood (even thought I do not always enjoy the cores this role entails). I would not wish to live in another era or be a different person. I am very blessed in so many ways.

Brain in Hyper-Drive Mode (or a nice way to say that I am not good at relaxing...)

The daily prompt was:
You lay there in bed and toss and turn and can't fall asleep.  All you can think about is..."
After a crazy ending to 2015, I have returned to write again...

I am not a good sleeper. I sleep lightly and awaken almost at every noise.

Sleeping with a partner can be hard is he has a bad night of "the snores"...

Being a mom to young children does not help, I hear them even from the distance between my room and theirs.

So, why can I not sleep well? I think its because my brain is always in overdrive, or should I call is hyper-drive? (Or should I refer to it as warp speed - inspired by Star Wars? Or was it Star Treck? See how my brain works?) I am just thinking and talking to myself non-stop all the time, and this most certainly does not stop at night.

Its not just thinking or mental overdrive, its also physical. Its hard for me to sit in one place if I am not doing something. There is always a "bone to pick" with my apartment and its unruly overflowing and untidy feeling. There is always some cloths to fold, things to organize for the kids, toys to pick up, dishes to wash, a washing machine to start and so on...every evening I can look at the kitchen with satisfaction, having left the sink empty and the counter clean, only to know that tomorrow is a new day with a new mess.

But lets get back to my hyper-drive brain activity: I could be imagining a story and telling it to myself, then sadly not writing it and losing it in the morning.

I could be thinking of a blog post for my online diary about my children or my professional blog, an then I do get up to write it, so I delay sleep and the written version is NEVER as good as the one i had thought of while lying in my warm bed.

I could be imagining a conversation with my husband, well actually a monologue to be honest, my monologue, and then its hard to remind myself that he did not hear what I had said an that the talk had never taken place.

I could be stressing about a task I did not complete or something I need to say to my boss...

Its not always stressful or bad, this overdrive of thoughts, but it always is! and sometimes I just want it to stop so that I can have some piece of mind, literally!

I dream of going off to a 10 day silent meditation course, so that I can learn to clear my mind and finally turn of the hyper-drive mode, but then all my duties sand especially my being a mother to small children all come back flowing and streaming and my thoughts are carried away and the brain returns to its usual hyper-drive state, until the next time I dare to pause for a millisecond to think about meditation again.

I do sometime wonder how is it  that I have not yet totally collapsed into a nervous wreck! Or that I am not the most thin of women, considering how many calories the thinking process allegedly consumes. I guess I consume enough calories (including the left over food from my kids, any dietitian, experienced mom or nutritionist will tell you what a fatal error that is to your waistline...).

My hope is just as crowded as m y brain, so its not easy to get piece and quiet here. We are a family of four and my husband is a collector, so the apartment is overflowing with books, DVDs, children's toys, my clothes, kids clothes for the upcoming 3 years, LP records and to much bed linen...

I think writing is a therapy for me as an outlet to my overworked self and hyper-driven brain. although it means sitting in front of a computer yet again (like I need to do for my work)  it is a relaxing and fulfilling activity. Who knows, I might be a published author one day...

Never give up! Keep writing, it slows down the hyper-drive if only fr a short 15 minutes...

Writing goals for 2016 - and writing dreams in general...

I would like to try and respond daily to the prompts I get from this site.

I would like to re-establish the habit of writing my marketing blog.

I would like to return to writing the blogs about my children.

I would like to write content or my own business site.

I would like to write enough content for m y social media pages, personal and business alike.

I would like to start writing a style tips blog.

I would like to write my memoirs about Germany and hope that I remember enough so that it becomes a funny book about the cultural quirks.

I would like to write my memoirs. period! So that my kids will be able to read them after I die.

Maybe one day "I can become a content icon.

Though probably if I am to write enough content, I need to hire writers...after all economies of scale is what creating a web presence is all about.

Maybe once day I can out some of my blogs and other scribbles into a book form.

I need to find all my idea scribbles, they are scattered about the house is different notebooks and stickies.

I want to just write for fun and for posterity.

Yep! new and old techniques do nicely for me...2016 - here I come, with keyboard, paper and pen!

2016 I will...

New year's resolutions are a  drag...You never really get through them, and then you feel bad. A little bit like the Bridget Johns movie.

But any life coach will tell you that setting goals for yourself is important to take a step forward. Well, I do set goals and I also list tasks and then go methodically through my lists and hack them off when completed. So I guess I am doing ok.

So I guess that if I am to target something for the new year and the whole year it would be in a more generic level in my life.

In 2016 will see more of my kids and not work into the night.

In 2016 I will try to get more positive energies into my life

In 2016 I will have found what it is that I am searching for.

Now I just need to break these goals into baby step plans, so I can tick off every task accomplished on the way to the great goal. Just like a good strategy coach does. :-)

Happy new year

Ofra

Things that I am grateful for - a holiday season spirit blog

I am always trying to teach my children to think positive. We talk about positive energies, saying "yes" instead of "no" (there is a book for children here about a teddy bear that always says "no, no" and what happens to him...) so this prompt is just right there with the list of things to discuss.

In the spirit of Christmas this prompt gets even more extra meaning, as the holiday is all about recognizing the richness one has and thus being able to give to others. Richness is not always about money, as is giving or generosity = the currency here can be so varied. Good deeds are conducted in many ways.

So what am I grateful for? All the good people and things in my life,  and all my experiences (even the one's that are not so enjoyable as they occur) that make my life a richer one.

First and foremost I am grateful for my two adorable children, who have created a totally new and overwhelming identity in my life, in fact overtaking any other identities, as I am now a mother! My children's friends recognize me as "XXX's mom", they do not always know my name. In the Arabic world a man get to be names after his first born son. I love it that I am named after my children, who are my greatest achievements!

I am grateful to my husband who tolerates me and lives with all my quirks, I can only wish to be more forgiving toward his quirks.

I am grateful for a loving and supporting family and for loyal amazing friends who have been with me for years.

I am grateful that I am living in a modern era that enables quick and international communication, and that fills life with interesting possibilities. After all, my current profession did not really exist 15 years ago and I grew and developed as  my profession grew and developed. I am grateful for innovations and technology that makes my life more convenient and that can help save lives.

This post makes me feel like a writer who is writing the thank you notes for a book. Well I have not yet written a book, but I do my best to write the daily prompt here - I am grateful for this tool and the opportunity it gives me to write.

Merry Christmas

Ofra