Tag: Life

Building a boulder

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pile of rocks and swans
Photo: Taken by me in 2022

Building a boulder is like life. You start with one rock, and as you get older, it gets bigger. But if you put too much at once, it might collapse. Then you sometimes want to take one of those rocks and throw it at someone. But you don’t throw it because you’re not a barbarian, and you don’t want to go to prison because of some idiot you can’t stand. The anger is temporary, after all, and you move on. If something doesn’t work, you do something else.

I’ve built many metaphoric boulders in my life, but I’ve always been careful that they don’t collapse. You cannot manage life if you only have good things. It’s better to be cautious than sorry, though. You live longer, too. Many do stupid things when they’re young and regret it later. There is nothing wrong with living an eventless life, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t experience things. I have never had a list of what to do before turning a certain age because of what you wanted to do before 30, you can do when you’re 40, and so on. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t experience things. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be. You can’t regret things you have never done. Life hasn’t been worthless even if you haven’t done anything special. Everybody doesn’t want to do things other people do. Life can still be fulfilling if you haven’t travelled, got married, or had any other experiences. If you lived your life without leaving your house, that’s another story. That’s not living, that’s wasting life.

No matter what has happened in my life, I’ve stayed above water. It seems young people today haven’t had a bad experience to handle life, so they get depressed or aggressive because things don’t go their way immediately. Life isn’t about having fun all the time. You need to do boring stuff and have adversity, or you don’t learn and become a stronger person mentally. Building a strong boulder of life will make it more bearable and make the most of it.

Learning is a marathon, not a sprint

Mia2 Comments
study learn know book cover
Made with Canva

Remember when you were a kid and wanted to learn quickly? You wanted things to go smoothly, and you had no patience at all. Learning is a marathon, not a sprint. Most of us want to learn and expect to be experts at once. But life doesn’t work that way. You need to take time to learn, and that’s what’s so fascinating about life. You live and learn all the time and don’t graduate from life.

I love learning new things and even things I already know. There is no harm in repeating what you learned in the past because people have different teaching styles and opinions. You might even get excited again about something you didn’t like when you were younger. In 3rd grade, we had to learn to play the fipple flute (also called recorder). I wasn’t excited to learn the instrument then. But when I got older, I took it up again. I taught myself to play music notes, and now I can play songs by heart. I even learned to play ‘Soft Kitty‘ (the song Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory sang). I just played with the flute some tunes, and then suddenly there the song was. I can play a tune by listening to the sound, and there’s a song. The instrument is easier to play than the piano. I’ve learned the easier music notes, and on the Duolingo app, you can learn music notes on the piano. I’m also learning Norwegian there. It sounds like Swedish but is spelled differently, so it isn’t so hard to learn for me.

I’ve been learning social media marketing lately, which is why I haven’t blogged as often recently. Writing in Finnish has been challenging because I’ve been writing in English so much. I get more written in English than in Finnish. I’m better at writing fiction than about real life. I’m like that little kid who wants to learn, but the results take ages. It feels like I’m wasting my time trying to write something and not getting anything in return. It makes me doubt that I will ever make it as an entrepreneur or that I can’t do anything right. Or that I’m too dull and no one cares. Learning to be patient and not giving up despite feeling disappointed. You also need some luck to make it. But the most important thing is that you learn things you want to learn and not what others want you to. Life is much more fun when you do.

One year ago today death showed its face again

Mia5 Comments
grave stone and candle
©Mia Salminen 2025

Today, it’s been a year since my Dad passed away. It was February 8, 2024, and about 11 o’clock when they called from the hospital to tell me he was no more. A year goes fast. I still have things to do, like going through his clothes. But life has moved on, and I have had other things on my mind. Sometimes, I wish he was here, but maybe it was for the best. You never know when death will show its face. It was good that some things were done before he died.

My Dad was a goldsmith who owned a business for 30 years. He continued even after he retired. It was one of his ways of doing something. He was a very good drawer, and he designed the jewellery he made. He made white golden diamond and zircon rings, pendants and earrings. He had a sales rep from whom he got orders from. But then the sales prep died, so Dad began to think about quitting the business. He decided to stop, and at the end of 2023, he sold the business premises. Ultimately, it was good it happened because fewer problems existed for me.

One of his last works was this ring (and a few earrings that were the same set). As the daughter of a goldsmith, I had access to jewellery without having to buy them. I have a lot of different kinds of jewellery, including yellow and white gold rings and pendants. If he tried new designs, I got to try them, so I might have pieces no one else has. It won’t get me rich if I sell them. No one else, for that matter. I haven’t used them for years because I’ve had rashes on my hands. I wore a necklace that my Dad made once last Christmas. For special occasions, I can wear them. Maybe I could begin to wear rings again every day as I did before.

golden ring on finger
©Mia Salminen 2024

No one is perfect, and my dad wasn’t either, but he was still my father, and I’m grateful for that. We didn’t agree on some things, but we got along great mostly. I hoped to have him around a little longer, but we spent a lot of quality time together, and that’s what matters.