Diary of a Restless Rebel – 13 May 2019

It was Mother’s Day in North America yesterday and while most were out celebrating this day with their mother. Someone very close to me hasn’t been on speaking terms with his.  Normally they have quite a close relationship so this felt like a bit of a blow to him and as a result, it was a difficult day.

This reminded me of how the dynamic of a mother child relationship can be idealised and skewed.  While many are blessed to have a great relationship with their parents, some don’t, or it like others, it goes up and down depending on circumstance. This romanticized perspective is only encouraged by the advertised images of flowers, spa days and brunches in pastel dresses.

Diary of a Restless Rebel – 19 February 2019

At the start of this month I moved to a new place of residence, again.  Yes I can’t seem to stay in one place for too long.  But I left a shitty situation at the last place, my landlords/ housemates were illicitly renting out a room in their home where they are part of a system designed to help low income families. Yep, subsidised housing made possible with our tax dollars. On the surface everything looked fine and the woman was pleasant during the hour long room viewing.  I only found out after I had already moved in.  And unfortunately, the stereotype for impoverished households rings true for this couple. Addictions, laziness and disregard for social and economic rules plagued the home.  The man slipped in and out of alcoholism as quickly as he started and ended employment in the trades.  His wife had her own problems, the painkillers she was taking for various ailments had her in bed all day and unable to work, she actually admitted one day she wasn’t cut for the 9-5…

Diary of a Restless Rebel – 5th February 2019

I started watching a TV program on Netflix yesterday about a woman who wakes to re-live her 36th birthday over and over again after she dies an untimely death.  A “glitch” in time is giving her another chance to make her life right and it had me thinking about my own life.

This morning I woke up to my own birthday and I identify metaphorically to the concept that every year we’re given another chance by the universe to set our lives right, with a restart or beginning of a new cycle.  It all sounds about right? We’re on a journey thinking we’ve completed it only to begin another.  But in reality we have never really finished the first.  A friend pointed this out to me the other week as we caught up about all that was so-called “new” in our lives. “Flo, you’re still on the same fucking journey you were on 3 years ago when we were living in London.”  Well he was right, turns out my journey is still the same, but my environment has changed, adding new challenges and insights.

Hello My Name Is Flo And I am An Addict

Well that’s a strong phrase I never thought I would say.

It’s a phrase that carries negative connotations because of the harmful vices associated with it. And calls up cliché images of people sitting in a circle on cheap plastic chairs in a dull community hall talking about their immoralities: alcohol, drugs, sex, porn, gambling….I must be a bad person with low morals and all sorts of problems, right?

Before you go too far passing judgement, addiction shouldn’t be a factor in deciding whether the person is immoral and bad. And what if the addiction is more benign than any of the common culprits mentioned above?

Allow me to start again.  Hello, my name is Flo, and I am addicted to being unbored.

Day in the Life #22

Day in the Life #20

Day in the Life #18

Day in the Life #17