Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 2

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Day 2

It’s December, but it doesn’t look like it. If you want to see snow in Finland, you need to go up North. But then you will meet the darkness despite the snow. The sun doesn’t show in Lapland for a while because of the polar night. It’s right down austere if you’re not used to it. I think people who live in the South of Finland suffer more from it because they don’t know how to handle it the same way. Snow would make it less dark, but now it’s dull and depressing. It’s more about attitude. If you see darkness as bad and don’t see anything positive about it, you look at it incorrectly. You shouldn’t stop living just because it’s not light outside. The sun sometimes shows in the South of Finland, so it’s not always dark. There was snow in November, but it melted. The weather forecast predicted there would be snow this week, so that will be less austere.

Some people get depressed when it gets dark earlier, but I don’t mind. It’s cosy when you can sit inside with the lights on and do things you usually do. If I go outside, looking at people’s balconies with Christmas lights is nice. Then, the city has lights and decorations all over. If you complain about how grey and depressive things are, then it’s no wonder you feel depressed. Put on the lights and the candles. Listen to music, watch a movie and anything you fancy. Take a walk outside or take a car ride. Or maybe go to the shopping mall and look in the windows. You don’t need to buy happiness. If you look outside and think, “It’s so dark, ” don’t. It won’t be like that forever. When the darkness is over, you complain about it being too light. What is wrong with us? Nothing is ever good enough. Negative thinking is never good, so stay positive and find something good in everything. Have a cookie. Even the smallest thing can make you feel better. Things are only austere because you make them to be, so don’t. They can be simple if you want to.

Failure is not an option

failure is not an option
Made with Canva by me

Ever had the thought that no matter how many times you try, you feel like a failure? You don’t get the attention you’re looking for. When no one else believes in you, giving up is easier. But nothing would be new if everyone thought the same, and the world wouldn’t have evolved as it is. Everybody won’t become great inventors, but we can do something about our lives. You can either work for others, or you can work for yourself. The latter is the hard way, which scares or worries people, including me. I don’t want to fail because that’s not an option. I don’t have time to start over again. That’s one reason I haven’t taken the step I wish to take, the fear of failure. I’ve failed in different ways. Whether it’s been education or finding a job. Certain things you can’t do yourself, like getting a job. That’s more about luck than failure. I’ve been luckier getting into a school I applied to than getting a job. They say you have a better chance of getting a job if you educate yourself, but in my experience, that isn’t true. Maybe it’s true in some occupations but not in mine.

My biggest fear the most is not being able to pay the bills if I become an entrepreneur. To be paid for a job, you need clients. It’s easier to search for a job but that haven’t happened to me, so I’m seriously thinking about becoming one. I’m already active on social media and have take courses about different approached to online marketing. But my worry is that despite doing what needs to be done, I still don’t get any clients. Am I wasting my time and should I forget about it? Maybe my business plan or dream clients doesn’t exist? What if I’m not good enough because I don’t have work experience and that’s the reason I don’t find clients? Those are the questions I keep asking myself. I don’t want to take the risk to have a business, if I have to wait couple of years to make a profit. Then a job with someone else would be better or being unemployment with benefits. Fortunally, with good planning and good confidence in my skills it won’t take that long. You don’t need to struggle with problems alone because there are people who can help.

I know I work better in an environment that I can control. I’ve been to workplaces where I didn’t feel I belonged. I don’t want to do a job I don’t want to do. Life shouldn’t be about doing things you’re not meant for. I believe you should follow your dreams even if they seem impossible in some other persons eyes. There are always people who hope you fail but that’s because they’re not brave enough to do anything about their own hopes and dreams. When my late Dad worked for another company before he started his own, there were people who were jealous because he made more money than them. But that didn’t stop him from doing a job. He started his company in 1990 and quit at least 2 years before his death this year. He had his ups and downs financially, but his occupation was different from mine. He was a goldsmith and that was an uncertain business. I followed from the sidelines how having a business worked, so I know how it is. He could chose his own hours and that’s more my style too. I’m not meant to do 9-5 jobs and people breathing down my neck. I want to be able to be myself and not try to act to be someone I’m not.

On a cosy Sunday

relaxed wool socks
Photo: ©Mia Salminen 2017

♫Sunday Monday happy days
Tuesday Wednesday happy days
Thursday Friday happy days
Saturday what a day
Rockin’ all week for you♫ – Happy Days, TV tune.

Sundays should be a cosy day, as it used to be. But now the stores are open every day of the week. For me, Sundays are cosy. If they weren’t, weekdays would be stressful. Being cosy doesn’t mean staying inside all day. If the day is sunny, you can be cosy outside. Sundays, my parents and I went for walks in the countryside. After my mum passed away, I still went out with Dad, but the walks weren’t as long as before. He played golf, so sometimes we went to the golf course to hit balls on the driving range. But that stopped a couple of years ago when things happened, and he couldn’t do it anymore.

I still drive to nature or take bike rides whenever possible. That’s my kind of cosy. But I also watch TV or on the computer. It happens every day of the week, not only on Sundays. Watching sports on TV is relaxing and being cosy, even if sports can be irritating from time to time.

I watch the Finnish version of Dancing with the Stars on Sundays, but the season will end soon. Even if I don’t dance, seeing other people doing it is cosy. My late mother used to watch it, so I also started watching it. The final will be next Sunday, but I will watch it at a hotel. I’m driving to Helsinki that day because I’m attending an event on Monday. Life can’t always be cosy, and driving long distances is not. But by car, you move at your own pace. That’s cosy in its own right.