Under magnifying glass

 Suddenly I have too much time on my hands and all kind of thoughts and conclusions are invading my brain. Let’s start look at them:

• 1. A friend of mine is dreaming to move in a warmer country and now even started to look there for a house. Another friend was talking about how easy and nice is to move abroad (where she was only in vacation) and telling me that I’m a pessimistic person if I believe that it might be hard.

This week I’m in Firenze, which is south and warm. Am I tempted to move here? No. I missed the sun and the warm weather, but here the sun is an enemy – I try to find the shadow everywhere I go. In addition, is so hot then even in absence of the sun, is hot. In my room I have good air conditioner, but if I turn it down the temperature rises at 30 degrees in 30 mins. So I keep it on a while turn it off, then on again, etc… It’s not fun. I’m alone here and I had a good book, I had no drive to go and search the city. I had a walk, but is was brief – and all what I was thinking was to go out of heat. I like visiting and exploring, but maybe tomorrow… They said that you need several days for acclimatization.

• 2. Another  friend was telling me that without liking the country, you should not consider moving there or starting a relation there.

In my case it goes totally in opposite direction. I would choose my country based on the people there. Not the beauty, not the weather, but love ones, family and friends. Besides, changing countries is a decision with many plusses and minusses – you can adapt or go home, no point in staying between.

• 3. Improvements. After certain age one might notice that people start to treat you differently: some with respect, some condescendingly, some excluding you, voluntarily or not, from common activities. Or all of the above are only in our heads.

For example yesterday there was a rock concert four young acousticians, that I’ve skipped because of the title – and because I didn’t make any effort to find someone to go with. I have an older friend that went through surgical operation in order to look young, I have an younger friend considering the operation. However is it worth the pain and the risk? Is it all what we can offer? A young look? I’ve been also asking my hair dresser who’s 5 years older and looking like – what is her opinion? She’s a marathon runner, preparing nowadays for half triathlon – so she said that how her look is, is not her concern, however she’s definitely interested in keeping her physical shape. Until last year, I might say that was interested in proving that I can still learn/ research / make myself recognized. This year though, I oriented my attention to other area.

So what’s the answer? Is the look, the fitness, the brain training, or something else – more important when we grow older? Can we concentrate on one and forget the others? Should we concentrate more on being ok with where, how and with how we are in that phase or our life, or should we still fight for better, nicer, fitter, smarter? Or maybe we should just change the country?