@matigo Life's a rollercoaster, as you’ll remember from the last few decades. Try not to be miasmic about things when you’re in a low. I know it’s hard to access the good things when you’re down but it’s still there, hidden in the fog. You’re going through a bad period. You’ve been through them before and you’ll go through more of them in the future but don’t lose your perspective. If you weren’t here tomorrow you’d miss the best part of your life…because the surveys keep saying that older people are the most content. We get better at the art of life as we age. We get better at managing ourselves and our environment. But we have to pass through some awful periods along the way. Who became better and smarter at living without going through bad times? No one. What you’re going through is an education. It’s teaching you things. It’s psychological growing pains. And Sumudu is right, you’re not just scenery, you’re important. You’re one of the most sensible, resourceful and responsible people I know. Don’t create a tragedy about your job, it’s just a job. You’ll work something out eventually. Whether it’s being zen about it (when you’re doing the dishes, just do the dishes), or becoming self-employed, or getting another job short-term while planning your own project, or some combination of those. You’ll work something out. Don’t create a tragedy about the wife either. This is where you are and where you need to be. You’ll become better over time at squeezing the juice out of the good bits and accepting the bad bits. But you need to stand up for yourself. And you need to look after yourself the way you would look after someone else. (That last bit might be J.B.P.)
I’m very impressed with journalist Peter Hitchens' ability to come up with great nicknames for Prime ministers. For example:
Tony Blair – The Blair Creature
David Cameron – Mr. Slippery/The Boneless Wonder
Boris Johnson – Al Johnson (a reference to Al Jolson because his real name, and the one his family use is Alexander…Boris is his stage name). Kim John Son/The Dear Leader
What makes the names so good is not just that they are scabrously funny and bring the shysters down to our level. But the fact that each is grounded in a basic truth. Blair isn't like a normal person. Cameron's modus operandi is 'be an eel'. Johnson sounds like he’s doing musical theatre.
[I think the Kim John Son nickname came after irritation with Johnson's recent easement speech. Funnily enough, while I was watching that demagoguery, I came up with a name of my own. I thought he shouldn’t be called Prime minister but Prime minstrel.]
'The longer talk has been suspended, the harder it is to find anything to say.'