Summertime…and the livin’s easy OR at least it used to be!
Ya just gotta think that way, just as the song says, “…the livin’s easy…” The weather’s nicer, the temperatures are warmer, morning coffee sips better when you can sit on the balcony, the deck, the patio…anywhere outside. Even the aches and pains you felt all winter long, just feel a bit less irritating when you’re outside feelin’ the fresh air and the sunshine.
June newsletter
The June newsletter is a reminder to everyone to take some time to sit back and appreciate the good in your life.
Sure, we all have things we would like to complain about, to lament and whine about. Each of us can probably write a long list of things to complain about.
Me too!
Let me write out some of my lamentations so you can nod your head and say, “Yeah, me too!”
Rising costs
The endless rising costs. Remember Sunday rides in the country? Remember the aroma of a steak on the barbecue driving you crazy with its great smell? Remember the taste of your favourite wine, your favourite beer when you didn’t think about how much it cost? Remember when a haircut cost you less than an oil change? Those were the days, eh!
Sneaky cost cutting
And then just when you think the product price has stayed the same, thank goodness… and then you examine the size of the product, the number of slices, the number of sheets, the volume, the ounces, only to discover that it has all shrunk, resulting in a higher cost to you.
Rush, rush, rush
Then, what’s the darn rush? Everybody’s in a hurry. Speed limits are taken as suggestions; express lanes permitting a certain number of items are just reminders to other people; “express lanes”…hug, what are they; check out services without cashiers are supposed to speed up checkouts…ha, ha, ha; going shopping at odd times on weekdays thinking it will be faster only to find tons of people who thought the same way; driving the main routes at off hours believing traffic would be less only to find many other drivers who thought the same thing …as my dear departed mother in law used to say, “Doesn’t anybody work anymore?”
Life is changing…incredibly
The news is not news anymore, it’s sensationalism, its gossip, it’s fake. Watch TV…they prompt you with a “screen crawl” announcing another product, another service or another news bit in a specific few minutes. What happened to the simply enjoying the broadcast, period! No more…and let’s add some insult. They don’t tell you to watch this or watch that by setting your PVR or watching the PODCAST…PVR, podcast…geez, what the hell are they?
The good old days…were just that
We miss the good old days. After the news, there was a test pattern, the signal that it was bedtime. Remember that? If you don’t, then you don’t have anything to be nostalgic about. Not anymore…you can watch TV 24/7…24/7 what’s that? We used to say “Anytime or all the time” Not anymore…24/7! OK.
Am I achin’ for the past
I am achin’ for the past a lot. For slower times, for times when we savoured more things, when we made time to talk to each other, not text each other. When we phoned friends just to see how they were doing. When was the last time you got such a call? Doesn’t it make you feel good when someone phones you just to talk to you, to hear your voice, see how you’re doing?
Click below to view the video:
Those were the days my friend
Those were the days
As Mary Hopkin sang, “Those were the days, my friend”…and summertime brings me back to those days. I don’t care about Doug Ford, Kathleen Wynne, Andrea Horwath or Mike Shreiner. I don’t give two hoots about Donald Trump, Roseanne Barr, Samantha Bea or Justin Trudeau. The Kinder Morgan Pipeline might as well be a daycare centre in my books; steel tariffs, NAFTA, who cares. I can’t do anything about those things. There are lots of things going on in the world that are bad, are wrong, need changing. We are going to hell in a handbasket. I bet our parents, our grandparents said the same thing.
Well, it’s summertime
Sit back, pour another sip and make a list of all the positive things that are still going on in your life. Reminds me of someone I knew in the past who lamented about life constantly, about endless chores, about lack of help from a partner, about how each day was a struggle. It was a constant lament about the same things with no changes. We all have the same kinds of things, things we wish would change, we would like to change.
OK…so, let’s take a few moments to sit back and be appreciative of what is good in our lives. Sometimes finding the good may be like hunting for something in a haystack…so become a farmer for a moment and start hunting. You have everything to gain. Maybe you might even be able to put a smile on your face as you sit outside with that coffee, that tea, or that favourite sip and say, “Things could be worse.” Yes, they could be…but at this moment are they OK? Are ya breathin’? Do you care about anyone? Does anybody care? Do you have a pulse? A heartbeat? Is there some good in that? Is there something that makes you feel good that the sun is out, the temperature is comfortable, that you can smile about? Hopefully, you don’t have to dig deep to find those things.
Have a great summer, sip, smile…the livin’s easy!
Best,
Richard
