Inspiration

Inspiration – Who or what inspires you? Who do you inspire? It works both ways. What makes you get up in the morning and greet the new day? If nothing does, then maybe it’s time to look at why not?

This feels like a bit of a ‘Thought For The Day’ post. Possibly because I have been feeling a little down recently. Not because I am not happy, absolutely the reverse, I have a lot to look forward to. I am about to be a Gran, I have an interesting hobby and a happy family life. It is just that winter in Scotland is not my favourite season. Dreich has recently been voted the most popular Scottish work. It is so descriptive – cold, grey, wet, damp.

Our days recently have fallen firmly into that category.When you only have about 6 or 7 hours of daylight, and often have the light on all day, it is so tempting, to huddle under the covers and not get up!

So I thought that it was time for a post to brighten up the day.

It is so easy to be uninspired

Example – Today, in the UK, we are drowning in election fever. If I can sum up the main arguments from the two main parties – the other parties haven’t a clue, we’re going to spend, spend, spend. No-one is sure how their spending spree will be paid for. (and as a personal finance / lifestyle blogger, that is anathema to me. All the signs are that we will end up with another hung parliament,  in a stand-off/stalemate situation, yet again, with no-one prepared to listen to the other person’s point of view. In the UK we don’t do consensus politics, or we would not have ended up where we are. There is something wrong with our modern politics where in our main parties –  on one side we have a person who at best, has been known to be a little economical with the truth, and on the other side a person who doesn’t want to give his personal opinion on something as important as Brexit. These are people who propose themselves as ‘Leaders’. Even worse, our country is not alone!

What happened to the concept that the Leader of the Country should be an inspiration, a role model, someone you aspired to follow? Not in the UK, not today, anyway!

Who or what Inspires Me?

People who challenge the system –

I read quite a lot. Just at the minute, I am re-reading Bad Science by Ben Goldacre. He also has another shocker ‘Bad Pharma’, which is on my re-read list. All he says is true. We are all gullible, easily led by TV, newspaper, online stories (or should that be mis-led). Think of the scare stories you read often – 50% increase in cancer if you eat x. Were we able to dig down into the detail (we rarely get to see the data), we might be surprised to find that the risk has moved from 1.4 in 100,000 to 1.8 in 100,000. But by using rounded figures, and not putting the figures in perspective, the journalist gets a better story. The same could be said of drug trials. Choose the data you want to report on from your trial, and make sure you use the results that best reflect the outcome you want.

How brave are doctors such as Ben Goldacre to raise the visibility of poor practice? The same could be said of those doctors and health professionals who are challenging the current ‘Healthy Eating’ advice, which has produced a type 2 diabetes epidemic, over the last 30 years. The jury is now out on whether our bodies need fat and cholesterol? Reducing our cholesterol might even be bad for us. All I can say is that is going to be many years before there will be a consensus. Vegan v Carnivore. Which harms the planet more? I’m going for moderation in all things.

Interestingly enough, I include in this section, FIRE bloggers (Financial Independence, Retire Early), people who are challenging the concept that you start work aged 18 or 21, and work in a mundane job until you are 65, your life is then finished, you have a few years of retirement doing nothing much, then you die…. Such a lovely future to look forward to! Now, more and more, people are realising that things can be different. Financial Independence can be a goal in itself, it doesn’t need to include the Retire Early bit. You can keep working but on your own terms, you don’t have to, you choose to. You can read my views in  Retired or Not Retired?

Travel

I know it is becoming politically incorrect to travel.

• Think of the Carbon Footprint – those jets are killing our planet
• AirBNB is ruining our inner city communities.
• Too many tourists on small islands – a very real problem in small places like Skye
• Those big cruise ships are killing places like Venice. They swamp areas with large tour groups. (see picture of the Acropolis below, 80%or more of visitors are tour groups)
• Small local shops don’t get any trade from tourists

I am sure there are many different concerns you could add. So, in our own defence.

• We prefer to go to cities with a good public transport system, or we walk
• we like to stay a while, we get to know the local shopkeepers, we give them trade. Only food trade to be honest, we avoid ‘tourist tat’
• we prefer to travel ‘off season’ when the numbers of tourists drop significantly.

So what inspires us when we travel

• it is so relaxing wandering along the shore in the South of France, stopping for a coffee, and watching the world go by. A coastal walk in Villefranche, near Nice in France. We took the bus from Nice, spent the day wandering around Villefranche, then got the bus home again.

• We like to be warm, so far all our major travels have been warmer than at home. When you live in Scotland, you really appreciate days on end of pleasant weather. Even in high summer in Scotland it is rare to get several weeks of unbroken good weather.
• The sheer majesty of other parts of the world. From the Parthenon in Athens built about 447-438BC,

Parthenon, Athens, Greece

the Colosseum in Rome built in 70AD

the more modern wonder of the Sagrada Familia which has been under construction for nearly 100 years.

Awesome, inspiring are only a few of the words that can be used

• It’s educational – everyone should keep on learning, regardless of their age. For about 2 months each year, we get to grips with a different language (though even reading Greek was an interesting challenge!), a different transport system, a different geographic area to find our way around. Going to Nice, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Athens, Istanbul or Kuala Lumpur since I retired, I can have a sensible discussion about the pluses and minuses of their transport systems, where is good to eat, what there is to see etc.

Great Leaders / Role Models

I could start by telling you all the people who don’t inspire me, many of whom are our current leaders, but here are a few people in today’s world who I find inspirational

• Stephen Hawking – I know he died in 2018, but to overcome so many physical disabilities to have a family and do ground-breaking research in physics. I am sure he felt depressed often, but his drive to overcome his disability and contribute to society was phenomenal.
• Queen Elizabeth II. I am not in any way a royalist, but to be aged 93, and still following a punishing schedule, day in, day out, when mere mortals like me would be saying – you know what, I would just like a cup of tea, and not shake anyone’s hand today…
• Warren Buffet – at 89, to be able to hold down a busy schedule, views sought at every turn. A mentor to so many, and yet leading a simple life. Now handing his billions on to help others. Respect!
• the school teachers who encouraged me to stretch myself, grow beyond the confines of the area where I grew up. By the time I was in 6th form (age 17/18 – the last school year before university for my non-UK readers), they gave many extra hours to ensure their classes were ready for their final exams. University was seen as a gateway to a bigger and better world, and I like to think it still is!

And finally

I wonder who in todays society is going to be a real inspiration. I am not talking about our current ‘influencers’ who count their followers in millions, who are the king/queen of the instagram pout. I am talking about real people, doing things that move the world forward.

I am interested in your suggestions…

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