Bohemian B’s Beat

All that glitters......

As the steady decline to the end of the year speeds up, we start feeling the pressure of ‘the race to the finish line’ of 2014.  Year-end finals, wrapping up business deals, finalising projects, year-end functions and not to mention holiday arrangements, family gatherings and the highlight of the year, Christmas.  Throughout the year everybody works diligently at earning a living... basically to just remain living.  How often have I not only heard, but said, “We work to survive only, not actually to live”.  We have become so materialistic and even greedy, wanting more and more and more that we have forgotten what the essence of life really is.  As we progress in our careers and move up the corporate ladder so to speak, our standard of living goes up to.  Not that we can afford what we are adapting to, but rather because we have a status image to uphold.  So we end up working harder and longer hours just to be able to meet our self-set needs (which we don’t actually need really, but want rather).

   Then comes Christmas, December holidays, and the ever anticipated count-down to the ‘Happy-New-Year’ celebration and all our hard earnings and savings are blown in a matter of weeks.  365 days minus the holiday and Christmas season of (give or take) three weeks equals 344 days of build up, saving, hard work and hours behind the grinding stone so that we can lavishly enjoy a time of rest and relaxation and rejuvenation before the onset of the bright new year which lies ahead, holding untold adventures, opportunities and truck loads of fortunes to be made. It seems like the more we have the more we want and the more we want the more we spend.  The more we spend the harder we have to work and the harder we work the more time we have to dedicate to work.  The more time we sacrifice the less time we spend with what matters the most, that which is of more value than our comfy homes, luxury vehicles, plasma televisions and the latest’s craze in whatever it is that society dictates to us, our family, friends and loved ones. 

   The mad rush of society has got me (and many others I am sure) frazzled, worn out and exhausted as I try to ‘keep-up’, I find myself craving simplicity.  It is so easy to get caught up in the stigma, in the downward spiral of becoming labelled stereo-type, easily forgetting what really IS of value, what is irreplaceable. Quite frankly I've never been able to ‘fit in’ with the way society works, not really.  Oh, I've played the part well before I managed to come to the conclusion that I don’t need to be like everybody else, I don’t want to be a sheep ( not that I have anything against sheep, they are delightful little fluffy beings, if not a tad on the ‘slow’ side).  I have always been told that I am ‘Stroom op’, yes I guess I am, but I just find it relatively impossible to be ‘stereo type’.  I have always danced to my own rhythm, prancing around in my own little bubble and even though I do love all that glitters, I have realized that it is not all it makes out to be.  However, what does remain loyal and ever present is that which carries more value than all the riches, Christmas presents and elaborate holidays? The people I love. And who love me.  My family, my children and my friends.  Turns out I am rich beyond any comparison.  Blessed with the riches of true love from those closest to me.  And they love me enough to accept me just the way I am. I decorate them in all things shiny and all that glitters (metaphorically speaking of course) as I overpower them with my numerous personalities (only the shiny ones of course) and overwhelm them with glitter in abundance, you see I am an all or nothing kind of girl and I know my all is MUCH and sometimes too much for some to handle, but that’s alright, I love them anyway. I realise I am a special kind and it takes a special kind to ‘survive’ me.  It is for this reason that I acknowledge their value in my life and count myself radically wealthy. 

   As for my year-end holiday, I will not be going to the most elaborate destination lying on a beach and sipping cocktails to my heart’s content, I will rather choose the route of simplicity and dote love on whom ever I get to share the holiday season with (not a lot of R’s needed).

   So happy mad rush and crazy business season as you tie up all the loose ends of 2014 and plan your grand entrance to 2015.  Only nine and a half weeks to Christmas… try not to shop till you drop.  Remember all that glitters is not always gold.

Glitter greetings (and all things shiny)

Bohemian B