Keren Smedley 18th May 2017
It’s hard, in the light of the changes being made by our politicians in recent months, to not wonder about the world we’re living in. Whether votes have gone the way you hoped or not we are all faced with uncertainty. Many of us who have been fortunate enough to have not lived through wars are now being exposed to things we haven’t had to deal with before. It seems like some of the rules have changed and that they are no longer there to serve the people. I’m sure a number of you will be saying they never were, but to me it feels different.
I was pondering about why that’s the case and found myself thinking back to my childhood and I remembered my parents talking about politicians then and how the world was a dangerous and scary place and that it was worse than it had been when they were young. They had been brought up in the war so it never seemed to make sense to me. Thinking on it I wonder if during the war there was an obvious focus due to the threat to their lives and country, so people had a focus and they were all pointing in the same direction. I also wonder if perhaps they were more honest about their motives and more open in their communication. My final thought is as we get older we have a different perspective to our younger selves and that things now seem worse or gloomier when the only thing that has changed is our perceptions!
I’m very aware as a coach and counsellor how our external world shapes our internal world. Many of my clients are struggling to make sense of their own lives against this external backdrop. At times, we can become so concerned about that, that we lose sight of our more immediate environment and we don’t look at what we can do to make things different. It’s also very easy to complain and not do something about it.
You may ask what can we do as decisions are made in a higher place. That’s true but we can influence decisions as we fortunately live in a country with freedom of speech. Social media has opened up the opportunity to voice thoughts and we sign petitions without even having to going outside!
I think it’s important to take responsibility. I don’t mean we should be politically active even with a small p. I mean decide what matters and do something about it. Or decide that you don’t want to do anything and then stop moaning!
I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts on this.
Best wishes, Keren
Experience Matters is an organisation set up to empower the 50+ and to help us to manage this next stage of life. We offer coaching, workshops, advice and information.
Contact me at www.experiencematters.org.uk with your questions.
Sign in to Experience Matters to receive our top 10 tips, newsletter, and video updates!
If this blog has raised some issues for you, you may want to talk to one of our life coaches.
Like our page….. https://www.facebook.com/experiencematters.coaching/
PS please share this if you think that it might help someone else.
Share this ..
