The Cosmopolitan Blog

I’m starting to draw a mighty big list of cons, when it comes to technology. Surprising, considering it’s the field i work in… or not… i hear those who work in chocolate factories never want to eat another piece of chocolate ever again, so….

For something that’s supposed to make us more productive, have u ever counted how much time you spend fiddling with, fine-tuning that technology for it to ACTUALLY do what you want it to do? Settings new systems up, figuring out how to make them better, fixing something that doesn’t work, installing product updates, rebooting, watching progress bars… UGH. I’d love someone to actually study this and tell us if we’re actually more productive or if we’re just more… well… busy…

We complain that the computer is making jobs obsolete, but what about all those jobs created to make sure that technology actually works?

Today, as i continue my european experiment, i realize one thing… technology takes your attention away from life. When you’re watching tv, it’s time you’re NOT spending outside taking a walk, when you’re surfing the Read the rest of this entry »

So here I am. England. London. I grew up here. And i’m back, staying at my mom’s, taking care of her as she recovers from a knee operation. Translation: i have NOTHING to do for a week. And i’m not a tourist here. And i don’t particularly love this city (long story)… so what does one do? Return to my blog, for 1. But i had an idea for an experiment, you know me, ever the sociologist.

Let us compare european and north american cultures for a week. I grew up in the former and couldn’t deal with the laissez-faire attitude, I longed for the hyper-productive, go-go-go attitude of the latter, so i moved there. A decade later, and i look back at the other side of the pond and wonder if these europeans hadn’t actually figured something out. 5 weeks vacation is the norm. Good food. Historical patrimony and traditions. Sidewalk cafés…. hmm….

So this is my goal this week. Compare. Not to draw conclusions, after all, seeing the sizable population living in each, i’m thinking there’s no clear winner or looser. But to understand. Stay tuned…

A friend asked me the other day what my creative outlet was, and I realized i don’t really have one. I mean, i love to write, but I don’t even blog that often. I love to cook, but i only cook creatively once in a while (the rest is just auto-pilot-gotta-fill-the-fridge-and-use-the-ingredients-i-just-bought). I love photography but don’t make time for it, even in the fabulous city i live in (it only seems to come out when i go on trips). I don’t paint or draw because i think i suck at it. i give speeches occasionally but struggle with the creative “finding a topic” part which reduces the number of speeches I do actually give.

So last week, this seed was planted and i couldn’t ignore it. Read the rest of this entry »

I recently mentioned that a lot of my posts, from now on, would be of the introspective nature. So why is introspection so huge for me right now? Because this is MY year, the year where everything falls into place:

• In terms of actual years alive, I’m … years old, and it’s a nice “milestone-like” number, the prime of age
• In numerology, where we go through 9-year cycles, I’ve recently started a new cycle, I’m in year 1: the beginning, the creation, unlimited potential
• It’s the year of the tiger in the chinese zodiac and I’m a tiger!

I didn’t hunt these numbers down, over the past 2 months, they got revealed to me (no, not in a freaky “twilight zone” way, just naturally, through reading and sharing with others). As per my “Time is of the essence” post, this is all about living in the now, making every day count, creating everyday, and living life to the fullest. It’s like being at the top of a ski slope filled with trepidation and excitement at the prospect of enjoying an amazing ride. THIS IS MY RIDE, here i go!!! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

A short blog post (I hope, cuz you know I can rarely manage that) about dreaming. I’m about to confess something, and you may laugh at me, or you may be honest and admit that it’s happened to you before too.

Dreaming is important. We know that. And it’s in our nature to dream. Call it wishing, if you like. We dream of the day when your children won’t wake you up at 5am, we dream of having 3 day weekends every week, we dream of a cruise to the Bahamas, we wish our boss would stop hounding us with more requests, we dream of meeting the perfect guy…

Either way, there’s always a place your mind goes that’s “wishful thinking”, and whether the dream is achievable or not, it’s were the ideas start, where our creativity begins. My favorite quote of all times is Albert Einstein’s:

Imagination is everything. It’s the preview of life’s coming attractions.

So has it ever happened to you NOT to dream big? To compromise, even in your dreams? I caught myself doing that and realized I’d been doing it for years. “I really want to do a job I love, I’d be ok if it paid less”. “I want to be financially comfortable, I mean, I don’t have to be a millionnaire or anything…”. “I really want to meet the perfect guy for me, who’s got this or that quality. It would even be ok if he wasn’t THAT good looking”.

Is it just me? Maybe it’s that part of my cultural background that teaches to be humble and considerate to others, not to be greedy or demanding. I don’t know but either way, it’s ridiculous.

IT’S YOUR DREAMS for goodness’ sake. Yours, not anyone else’s. So they can be anything you want. If you can’t even dream to the fullest, how are you ever going to live to the fullest. If your dreams are already a watered down version of “perfect”, then, if we take for granted that we don’t reach ALL our goals, our life will never be more than average.

Dream big. Exaggerate. Imagine the best case scenario. Your wildest dreams, remember those?