I had to laugh yesterday when we drove by a tiny lieu-dit called "Ça me suffit", or "It's enough for me". So there's at least one French person out there who's content with what they have. Ha!
(Scratch that - I just Googled it and there are three "ça me suffit's" in France, so I take it back - there are three content Frenchies somewhere out there. lol)
Also, it's kinda bugging me that some of you out there think I'm a "glass half empty" kind of girl. Here I thought I'd been doing pretty good at seeing the positive in everything that's happened. That's the problem with blog posts - half the people are going to read them the wrong way. I just thought the saying was funny because it seemed so French - to always be complaining about everything and not realizing how good they actually have things until its gone. Kind of goes along with how the France is considered to be one of the best countries to live in in the world, yet its people are also the unhappiest....
Labels: Starting Over
posted by Ksam @ 7:29 AM
17 Comments:
I don't think that people think you're a glass half empty kind of person. I don't think you should take comments like that as a criticism. I personally consider myself to be a glass half empty kind of person (I'm not going to apologise for it either) yet I still interpreted the saying in a positive way, who knows why?
Those kinds of sayings are purely subjective and can be read a million different ways, and probably at different moments in people's lives they will read them in particular ways as well.
what's a "lieu dit"?
They're very happy around here. Is it possible that you've just had different experiences?
I was going to ask what's a "lieu dit," too....
Sometime our glass IS half empty... sometimes it's half full...hehe... Things are always changing, that's the fun in life, eh? I think you've done an excellent job in everything you've set out to do, Sam!
From the first day I met you, I was genuinely impressed with your positive attitude and how well you were dealing with all that was going on at the time! Much better than I have dealt with similar experiences in my past... Brava for you, girl... I truly enjoy reading your blog- your humor, wit, curiousity, sarcasm...
Take care and have a great WE... See ya Sunday... Looking forward to catching up.. It's been a long while...
Ciao, Leese
A "lieu dit" is essentially a tiny village that is too small to officially be a village. Although I think legally a "lieu dit" doesn't have to have the village in it--it just has to be a place that carries a semi-official name and covers very little territory. If you drive around France you'll see them labled--the signs are black with white letters rather than the big white signs with black letters that lable the entry into a town or city.
And all three Ça me suffits could have been the same nomadic Frenchperson ;)
These days it's me who's seeing everything as glass-half-empty, and it's depressing. I've never though of YOU that way, though!
I do think you've handled what happened to you better than most people would have and certainly considering you're still quite young (well, to a 47-year old like me, anyway!) so you don't have as much life experience to draw upon yet, to help you get perspective. And of course you're sometimes using this blog to "think out loud" about this transitional time in your life, which is naturally going to be a bit stressful. Maybe to some readers that comes off as being a negative person? I do think on occasion some of your posts come across as you being a bit angry/hostile either about Fab or about the French in general, and other times it's clear there is still sadness that you're feeling. But don't apologize for it... it is part of the healing process and geez, it hasn't been even a year yet since you broke up (or has it already?) and you were with him for many years. It takes time to stop feeling the negative emotions after a breakup. But it will happen, don't worry. At least you're honest about how you feel. Better than bottling it all up, and writing is a good outlet.
Yeh... And, remember when I told you when first meeting you... It took me THREE years to get over the 6 year relationship I had with the bf I thought was my "soulmate!" I certainly tried to handle it well... but it was maddening and sad and frustrating... Like I have said... you have really done a marvelous job and "moving up and on!" I commend you on that, Sam!
BTW, even your great attitude with the apt. capers shows how strong you and your ability to get through things with a very good attitude...
I think you do a very good job of picking yourself up and dealing with what you have to deal with. After everything you went through for however many years in Bretagne, it's amazing you didn't turn into an alcoholic like every other person who lives in the French countryside :)
I interpret your posts as making some pretty ridiculous and crappy situations into amusing stories rather than just being upset about them. Humor is very subjective, especially humor that tries to laugh off our very real problems and hurt, because it can seem dark and negative, when really that's what we're trying to avoid! Like the old saying about laughing because otherwise you'd cry. We all come up with our own interpretation for someone else's words, even more so on the internet where there is no tone of voice included in what's written to help us find the meaning behind them.
And if it makes you feel any better, I had a French friend tell me last night that I'm more nagative about the French this year than I was last year. I don't think so at all, I think it's just that I'm more likely to mention my criticisms of the French in a joking manner than to let them pass without comment. Maybe we both have humor interpretation problems?
Hmmm, I wonder if there's someone making the rounds. I got an anonymous comment a while back about being really negative.
If your glass is half empty it's because it was full of rhumrhums and you drank the first half with a smile on your face. :-)
You are you and from what I have read that seems to be a pretty great person who has been able to deal with the lows in not only an entertaining way, but has been able to share those times with us virtual voyeurs out here so we might learn a little something along the way. (Longest run-on sentence ever.)
i think a realistic survey of the damage is the only way to move forward and onto the road of the f word. (f*rg*ve, which is never for them, always for us.)
i think both half empty and half full are enonymously unrealistic, and that you're above all realistic. i think you're doing fantastically well and should congratulate yourself.
xxx
eponymously.
IMHO: I don't know if it's fair to say that the French are the unhappiest people in the world. They are vocal but that doesn't mean that they're unhappy. Or even the unhappiest in the world....
Just as you aren't a "glass half empty" kind of girl.
Though I do hope that your spirits pick up soon. I have people to go home to, but I don't do nearly enough "fun" things like you get to. It's all perspective, I guess.
Hugs
I'm not just making up that they're the unhappiest - there's a survey that's done every few years that ranks the happiness of several countries' populations, and the French are pretty much always comes in at the bottom of the list.
Course it depends on who paid for the survey, but I still think that the French are not the most "unhappy" people on the planet.
I am cracking up...are some French readers "unhappy" about your survey comment? Sorry...it was just too easy.
have to say my (albeit short) experience is that most French folks I meet are pretty content and feel very happy about living in France, being French, etc.
as far as your outlook, I've seen both sides reflected dependent on what is going on in your life. pretty much the same as the rest of us.
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