Are you suffering from AFFLUENZA?

AFFLUENZA, a modern-day epidemic. 

Affluenza: How to be successful and stay; a review of Oliver James's top-selling book

In his 1997 book Britain on the Couch, Oliver James asserted that "advanced capitalism makes money out of misery and dissatisfaction, as if it were encouraging us to fill up the psychic void with material goods". In this book, he explores the idea further, and it's terrific. A lot of readers, wanting to put their finger on why the affluent world they live in makes them so uneasy, will want to cheer. Here he is saying, loud and clear, that capitalism is bad for your mental health. And then he tells us why this is the case, and what we can do about it.

"My focus," explains James, "is on why we are so fucked up, not with dangling a false promise of the possibility of happiness." He's right - he doesn't offer false promises. By the time you've finished this book, you, too, might be feeling pretty pessimistic. As if we weren't already - as James points out, almost a quarter of Britons suffer "emotional distress". "Cards on the table," he says, "I contend that most emotional distress is best understood as a rational response to sick societies."

So why are we, in James's words, so fucked up? It's because of what James calls Selfish Capitalism, or, more catchily, "Affluenza", a virus-like condition that spreads through affluent countries. In these countries, notably English-speaking ones, people define themselves by how much money they make. They are also ruled by superficial values - how attractive they look, how famous they are, how much they are able to show off. As the sociologist Erich Fromm would have put it, we have moved from a state of "being" to a state of "having". Now we are obsessed with what other people think of us, and we've lost touch with our own feelings.

It's a wonderfully clear and cogent thesis. Affluenza, as defined by James, is clearly recognizable as our way of life. It spreads because it feeds on itself; when you try to make yourself feel better by buying a car, or bulking up in the gym, or spraying on a fake tan, or having a facelift, you actually make yourself feel worse, which makes you want to buy more things. As James points out, the virus has spread to television - "most programs," he says, "are now barely concealed advertisements for classes of product" - and education. James sees modern education as "little better than a systematic method for spreading the virus".

He travels the world, interviewing rich, unhappy people. There is Sam, a New York billionaire who lives alone in a vast apartment. Sam was addicted to heroin and now seems to be addicted to casual sex with young girls. He has, we are shown, pursued the goals of affluenza to their ultimate point. He can have anything he wants, but nothing satisfies him. James also meets the trophy wife of another fabulously rich man - she is addicted to shopping and cocaine, and he is often away from home. Their relationship is based on mutual contempt: she spends his money with vengeful spite; he pays her back with coldness and abuse.

Well, he's convinced me. So, what can be done to prevent affluenza from invading our lives?

The Solution to Affluenza

According to James, the antidote is simple: look inward, not outward. Don't be a sheep. Try to be "beautiful" rather than "attractive". Embrace the family. Don't see life as a competition. Don't watch too much TV. Simple, perhaps. But will it be enough? Maybe too vague?

Let's break it down into more "tangible" and "doable" steps:

Wikipedia defines affluenza as:

1.    A painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more;

2.    The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to “keep up with the Joneses”.

So if you find yourself trapped in a state of desperately desiring that shiny new SUV, imagining how it will change your life, propel you to new career heights and bag you the perfect boyfriend, here are a few tips to help you overcome the dreaded affluenza bug.

·         Tip #1 - Use what you have. Take a closer look at all you have already accumulated. There is still life in that old table. There are still good times to be had in last-year’s sundresses. Mining your own treasures and breathing new life into your existing possessions can provide immense gratification.

·         Tip #2 - Give it a year, or a season. Buying the latest fashions or technological innovation at the top of the market is for suckers. Late-adopters fork out less cash and benefit from more reliable versions. Let other people work out the kinks.

·         Tip #3 - Get one, give one. It’s all about balance. If you must buy something new, make space for it in your life by giving up something old. There will always be people who have more than you and there will always be people with less. Many people would love what you have. As you bring new items into your home, donate your old ones to Goodwill in equal measure.

·         Tip #4 – Ye olde savings jar. Try this for a month or two: every time you are tempted to make a new purchase on something you suspect you don’t really need, but dearly want, take the cash and stash it in an envelope, jar, or money market account. Tell yourself that at the end of the month, if you still need the item, then you can buy it. You may be shocked when you realize how so many magazines, pairs of shoes, or dinners-out can quickly add up to the price of a Caribbean holiday.

·         Tip # 5 – Your home is an evolution. Do you find yourself looking around your rooms or garden, seeing only what needs to be bought, rather than congratulating yourself on what you’ve already achieved? When you move into a new space, it’s normal to want it to be perfectly furnished and decorated immediately. But the beauty of a home is that it is a reflection of your own evolution. Refining and building over time is a more natural and harmonious way to live.

·         Tip #6 - Don’t look fabulous, BE fabulous. No amount of expensive highlights or Louboutin heels can compensate for a bad attitude or an unhealthy lifestyle. A well-rested forehead is infinitely cheaper and more attractive than one filled with Botox. Bright eyes, glowing skin and a genuine smile trump expensive outfits every time.

·         Tip #7 – Wear your clothes, don’t let them wear you. A plain sweater and jeans from the Gap will do more to provide a backdrop for your beauty than expensive jewellery or a boldly emblazoned logo that commands all the attention. Would you rather have someone say, “wow, you look great” or “wow, that’s a great pair of shoes”? Take your pick.

·         Tip #8 – You are not what you drive. Yes, it’s lovely to enjoy a smooth ride in an elegant car now and then, but ultimately, it’s just transportation. Do not rely on your car to make a statement as to who you are. Not everyone will translate a message you might like. Save the drive for essential trips and get your family riding bikes and walking. Dispositions will magically improve without the opportunity for backseat arguments.

·         Tip #9 – Understand diminishing utility. When you’re really hungry, a carrot tastes much sweeter. When you haven’t had a vacation in years, a weekend at the lake feels amazing. The more you consume, the less satisfaction the next bit of consumption will give you. Take a break from accumulating for a while, so that when you do buy yourself a treat, the enjoyment will be much richer.

·         Tip #10 – Take pleasure in the state of desire. If you had everything you could possibly want, where would all that energy go? Would you look for new things to want? Or would you become restless without having anything to aspire to? By racing to quickly attain the things you want, you miss out on the excitement of desiring and earning your achievements over time.

Put your money where your mouth is!

You know? The other day I was thinking about Pink Floyd's super famous song "Money" and, more specifically about its lyrics, its words, its message. It is undeniably a really good tune (but by no means my favorite of theirs) and it is one of the first songs most people get to listen from the British combo (along with "Another Brick in the Wall", of course). 

Anyway, it is the message we're discussing here:

"Money, get away"... "Money, get back"... "Money, it's a crime..." and so on, and so forth...

Basically a condemnation of money for being the root of all the evils of our ugly world. Hmmm... quite funny coming from a bunch of millionaires who probably live in some mansion in the French Riviera  and who would easily charge their fans between 50 to 100€ for a concert ticket and who would not hesitate to report them if they found out said fans were downloading their songs for free. Don't get me wrong, I love the Floyd, but a group  of philanthropic hippies these guys were not (Roger Waters even admitted in an interview that he was inspired to write The Wall after he spat at an enthusiastic fan in a gig and was disgusted by his repulsive behavior, but that is a completely different story!)

The thing is that I've always found the Rock Stars' hypocrysy about good deeds and especially about trying to pretend how little they care about money quite annoying; especially if they don't practice what they preach, they talk the talk but not walk the walk, etc. I mean, I'd rather have an artist (but also other types of professionals such as cooks, painters, etc.) who unabashedly admits he's only in it for the money than someone trying to convince me about artistic integrity and whatnot when his/her actions show otherwise. I just don't buy that BS, sorry.

That is not to say that true artistic integrity does not exist and that there are not people who have other much more important motivations than CASH in their careers and lives. Quite a few bands/individuals have risked much of their time, energy and investments in setting up record labels so as to help new, up-and-coming artists make their music (or whatever creation) available, and many have agreed to lower their fees so as to keep down the price tickets; all of it, out of pure altruism. So, of course, kudos to them!

Whatever, the issue I wanted to be discussed in this very post is MONEY; that is, how important money is in our lives.

I'll talk about myself, and expect you to do the same (as usual, in the comments box): I LOVE my job, but I really doubt I would do it for free. I've always thought that if you can make a living out of something you genuinely enjoy doing, then you're a lucky person. But of course, getting some money in exchange for that job which you love is an ESSENTIAL part of the equation; I mean, how could one live, otherwise?

The thing is that I reckon the money that I get for my job is pretty reasonable; sure, my job is a decently-paid one (especially when compared to most jobs in our country), and such pay would allow one to live comfortably (it pays the bills, for sure!), provided that person has some minimal money-management skills. In relation to this, I have to say that I wouldn't call myself a materialist; I'm not obsessed with money or whatever: I only see money as the vehicle for obtaining some goods, services or (more importantly, in my case) experiences/memories. Duh! you will say; EVERYONE uses money to buy things or experiences! Right, but what I mean is that I'm not that concerned about how much money I have in my bank account or about NOT SPENDING money (and consequently, saving it!) or about setting some private pension plan or saving it for a rainy day and stuff. 

The truth is that I'm a lousy saver: probably, having a job for a life has made me relax about having to amass some savings to fall back on if needed; it is quite complicated for me to set a budget and stick to it. Furthermore, I don't have kids, and things would be different if I had. On the other hand, I live on my own and all the expenses to meet (rent, utility bills, groceries, petrol, phone, internet), I have to do so myself. Periodically, some unexpected expense (municipal taxes, car repairs, car/house insurance, goddamned fines...) will come up, rendering the chance of saving some money a quite improbable one.

After paying bills and meeting my de rigueur expenses, there comes enjoyment; what a miserable life would it be if one could not treat him/herself after a long, hard work week, right? I'm not a capricious man and have little concern for cars or designer brands or expensive clothes but, I do have some interests and most of them are not free: I love music, and not just listening to it, but POSSESSING it, that is, buying vinyl records. I feel bad if I spend too much money on records (I try not to spend more than 5% of my monthly income on that), but sometimes I just give in to my record buying impulses. 

Eating out (and washing down a nice meal with an equally nice wine) is another of my personal pleasures, and I love doing it once a week at least (I hate being ripped off, though). So is craft beer (which is not exactly cheap). I also enjoy travelling quite a bit, and travelling can be a costly activity (I usually rely on others who are much better at finding travel bargains than me!).

I guess that, based on the previously stated, I'm more of a spender than a saver. I don't know, I don't really throw money away or spend money like water, but if with a decent pay, I  can barely make ends meet, then a saver I'm definitely not.

What about you guys/girls. What is your attitude towards money? How much money is enough money? (not a specific amount, but more of a description) Can you live on your income? Do you make do with what you have or would more money make a considerable difference?

Have your say!

Arguments AGAINST work-life balance

Hey hey!

Find here the second post on our newest topic (work), which not unlike the other one, stems from a couple of articles I found online about a rather controversial topic: "Is work-life balance overrated?" "is it a by-product of a kinda lazy society so afraid of leaving their comfort zone or a really legitimate aspiration?" Again, as in the previous post, you will be the judge, providing you read the opinions of career coach and entrepreneur Hamza Khan.

Here we go!

According to a recent survey by Ernst & Young, one-third of full-time workers globally say that managing work-life has become increasingly difficult. 9,700 workers in the United States, Germany, Japan, China, Mexico, Brazil, India and the United Kingdom revealed that they are working longer hours and harder than ever before, leaving very little time for much else. One could argue that we’re living in a golden age of workplace stress, largely due to the changing role of work in our lives. When work and life blend into each other, how can you begin to achieve an equilibrium that supports your physical, emotional and mental health? Perhaps it’s time to resist the binary construction (or fallacy) that is work-life and consider a new framework altogether. 

In an article for TechCrunch, Blake Commagere challenges the contemporary concept of work-life balance. He says that the problem is not that we don’t have a balance – the problem is that work is our life, and we are trying to incorrectly define the “life” portion as this separate thing for which we have to make time:

He states: "rather than seeking a traditional “work-life balance”, I simply reframed the things in my mind that are typically considered “life balance” as things that are part of my job. I began with a simple premise: at our startup, my productivity and efficiency are critical to the success of the company. This premise did not require any measure of cognitive dissonance – it is a premise I embraced prior to the thought exercise. The result to this premise is that: anything that reduces my productivity or my efficiency threatens the success of my company. Thus, anything that increases my productivity and/or efficiency is part of my job, and anything that reduces my productivity/efficiency is part of my job to not do".

When your work is your life, there’s no such thing as work-life balance. The traditional aspects of the 40-hour workweek are dying, and we must change if we want to increase our productivity and support our well-being. How you change is up to you, but sticking to the same old formula isn’t going to cut it. From an entrepreneur’s perspective, Kevin O’Leary,  in an interview for Business Insider supported Commagere’s idea that there is no such thing as balance: "If you’re going to take the path of an entrepreneur…you have to sacrifice some stuff, which is just unfortunate. But, that’s just the nature of what we’re all dealing with…The sacrifice is there’s no bounds during the period you’re growing the business".

Examine the phrase “work-life balance.” It’s predicated on two assumptions: 

1) Work and life are distinct entities, 

and 2) The “life” elements are equally, if not more, important than the work elements. 

A creative’s work is life; there is no line dividing work and life, because the creative doesn’t consider the work and life as two separate entities. You are a whole creative, and a whole person. Compartmentalizing is futile.

The key to finding balance is to be good to yourself in a way that supports your work. Eat well. Sleep well. Exercise. Nurture healthy relationships. And stop trying to tell yourself that you need to cram more convenience and experiences into the “remainder” of your 168 hours of the week. If you feel possessed by creativity and want to get your idea or product out to the world, it’s important to adjust your expectations: you can have work-life balance, as long as the two are one-and-the-same.

Again, I found this one a pretty interesting read, and I hope you did so, whether you support these views or not!

Article! "Why the Spanish aren't Entrepeneurs"

Hi there everyone!

Scouting the web for some interesting material on the relatively low degree of entrepreneurship among Spaniards, I came across this one, by American professor Jennifer Riggins. I think it makes a pretty compelling read and will hopefully lead to some interesting debates and discussions.

I have chosen a couple of the- in my view- most thought-provoking bits. Apparently, in the writer's opinion (and many of the experts mentioned, who seem to second her views), the Spanish in general, and the youths, in particular, may not be the most ambitious people ever! We have rather low aspirations, or so it seems! An unfair cliché or the sad truth? You decide! (after reading the article!)

Without further ado, here we go! (and remember, these are HER words, not mine!)

Generation Y in Spain isn't asking why, they're just floundering about. Sixty percent of the country's over-educated lost generation of university and master's graduates aged 30 and under aren't getting hired. With around 20 percent unemployment nationwide, these young adults are left to fight over unpaid internships and jobs beneath their experience levels, just to get something to put on their resume. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD,) 44 percent of the Spanish aged 25 to 29 that actually have jobs are working in ones that require lesser skills than they have. So with no families, no mortgages and little else to lose, why aren't more of them creating jobs for themselves?

Many say the Spanish are just lazy, but that's not it. There's something else, intangible, that's developed in the culture and history. The children of Spain aren't raised to follow their dreams. School has become, for the most part, just a place for passing exams, never for debate, discussion or critical thinking. Your curro, or job, is to endure from nine to nine, pushing buttons until the next break. A history of civil war and a 39-year dictatorship, followed by a construction boom and crash, to now, where it's taken for granted that politicians will be corrupt, has led to a nation that's devoutly proud of being Spanish, but that can't define what that even means.

Beyond the absurdly challenging bureaucracy and the fact that banks are hardly offering loans at all anymore, there's something stagnant about the government-controlled education system and the culture, in general, that is keeping the nation's most book-learned generation in history from reaching its potential. SmartPlanet sets out to re-open the discussion of why technically adept young adults are not looking to start their own businesses and why this resistance to altering the status quo has led Spain to be predicted as one of the slowest kids in the PIIGS (referring to Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain, those most hit by Eurozone crisis,) who will take the longest to climb out of its own economic free fall.

"Upon graduation, 70 percent of Spanish people want to work in large companies, while 70 percent of American graduates want to be their own bosses," writes Juan Angel Hernandez, in a recent op-ed for a Spanish financial magazine, advocating on behalf of start-ups, as a solution to the crisis. He writes about how the goals of recent grads are either to work for the government or one of Spain's top ten companies.

So instead of between 50 and 80 percent of recent grads studying for absurdly competitive government jobs, why aren't they creating their own opportunities? Research has concluded that start-up values can best be instilled at a young age and the education system is not up to the task. It states that: "Entrepreneurship can be learnt at school and should be actively promoted so that young Spaniards can develop skills such as independence, self-confidence and decision-making in situations of risk." The researchers came to the conclusion that, "Young Spanish people don't feel they have been taught how to be entrepreneurs, which is why teachers need to have the relevant tools and materials to teach business acumen and initiative, whilst also fostering their students' interaction with local entrepreneurs."

Blaming the education system -- which only maybe changes when a new political party takes power every eight years -- isn't a new theme. This isn't a nation where kids are asked what they want to be when they grow up. "In high school and university, no one has ever asked them what their motivation is", says Eva Snijders "People here concentrate on whether it's difficult to build a business and why it takes time and money."

Rosaura Alastruey hosts motivational workshops for both the employed and unemployed. She says, "Un emprendedor es un bicho raro," which translates to "an entrepreneur is a rare bug," or a freak or oddball. In Spain, "Jobs are to subsist," she told SP recently. There's no need to like what you do, you just need to have a job.

It seems that you only look to start a company when it's the last thing left to try. Alastruey says, "I have students: 'After a year or two years unemployed, now I want to open a business.' It's the last option."

Folks in their twenties and thirties make up the first generation after the dictatorship of General Franco. "This is the generation where the parents didn't have anything, so their kids have everything, not learning that everything has a cost." The sons and daughters of the post-Franco world aren't living to make ends meet, but are simply waiting for their ideal job or are opositando, the truly Spanish phenomenon of studying for the highly competitive civil service exams. Many, on their parents' dime, study nine hours a day, six days a week for these exams, for one to five years at a time, while some of these jobs-for-life can see 1,000 applicants for only three spots.

As one entrepreneur at a networking event recently said, "You're 23 years old with your whole life ahead of you and all you can dream of is to be a public servant?

It makes one think, innit?

About the importance of Non-Exercise Physical Activity!

Hey!

As you know, unit 8 "Space is the Place" is all about movement and action, something which we know can be sometimes challenging to express in English with sufficient accuracy. 

The unit itself was initiated by me enquiring "what is your movement like?/ how well do you move?" and, while contents having to do with physical exercise per se are going to be tackled in detail in the present unit (for they ALL involve a great deal of movements and actions taking place in space and time), I believe that the concept of "movement" is far more comprehensive and, thus, more important. Sure, I think in this day and age of modern comfort and ubiquitous technology and gadgets galore, it is necessary to include in our routine scheduled/regulated (that is, subjected to rules and standards assessing their correct or ill-performance) physically demanding activities (i.e.: exercising either indoors or outdoors and giving our heart, lungs, joints and muscles some extra work to do), but I also believe the greater service or disservice we are doing to our bodies and health occurs out of the gym, the occasional 10k run, the spinning class or the Paddle tennis game.

Of course, the way we eat (aka: "our diet") is going to play a CRUCIAL role in the way we look and feel, but I also think little attention is paid to our everyday/routine NON-exercise movements. 

I mean, have you ever wondered why some people brag about eating like a horse and look consistently lean while others moan about not skipping one single day at the gym, putting the work and doing whatever their Zumba/CrossFit/Body Pump/ Cardio instructor tells them to, sticking to a sucky, life-depriving diet, and yet, keep struggling to make their bodies reflect even slightly the effects of such a Spartan discipline?  Many will thank or curse their genetics for one or the other, whilst others will point at their "shitty" metabolism ("man, just breathing makes me fat!")

I have a couple of pet theories about this rather banal issue (which may be not 100% right, for they are PET theories ;-)). First, neither the lean guy/girl eats that much, nor does the person struggling with their weight eat that little; well, that's my impression, but there might be exceptions, OF COURSE. But more importantly: just look at the skinny/lean guy/girl and the way they move throughout the day (ever heard the words/phrases "fidgety", "live wire", "hyperactive" "that who cannot stand still if their life depended on it????"), I mean, some are just terribly active when they're not doing sport (walking, cycling, taking the stairs, getting up, cooking, cleaning, picking up things, being irrepressibly expressive and gesticulating....) and, not surprisingly, I'm afraid that is going to OUTWEIGH (pardon the pun!) that 6 to 7 aerobics class at your neighborhood's fitness centre.

Again, just don't call me superficial for giving certain importance to something some might label "shallow/trivial/banal/ frivolous/ worth of Instagram-obsessed dorks" (besides, it's not "body types" that we're discussing here! That is far more complex); I might be concerned about my own body, but I'm rarely concerned about anybody else's. It's the effect this may have on someone's health (physical, mental, emotional, mood, self-confidence, wellbeing...) which interests me way more.

I suggest you take your time and read this article, which incidentally deals with the same matter.

"I move, therefore, I am"

This guy is ace! This video is genius! Expression of movement and direction in English

Hi there everyone! 

The brand new topic we're about to start is arguably one of the trickiest for a non-native speaker of English; it is not theorizing or arguing about the evils of fracking, GM foods or tantric sex in our society, but about talking about events, situations and stories involving movement, action, direction.

I've done quite a bit of research online to see if I could get to the right piece of clarifying and enlightening information on this issue and, while mastering these concepts is essentially a question of endless practice and even that will not ensure that we can express those type of meanings with the ease a native would, I think this video pretty much just nails it in its explanation.

Make sure you sit through it and take some cool notes! You bet it's worth it!

Movement and direction in English

Enter the NED Talks!

Hiya!

I told you a couple of days ago, and I'm pretty positive I mentioned this before, that you were going to have the opportunity of giving some presentations/talks in the classroom for both your teacher and all your classmates' delight!

This is going to be a great chance to train and test your impromptu speech skills as well as face and cope with (and ultimately succeed at it!) stage fright!

It is obvious that I have named these cool oncoming talks after the ubiquitous TED talks, which seem to be just everywhere. I do not really know what TED stands for, but NED stands for "Natural, Enlightening, Dynamic", which means that, unlike their more famous counterparts (TED talks, which usually drag on for more than 20 minutes and you end up wondering where's the bloody substance in them! It's like, "get to the goddamned point already, man!"- or "ma'am!" ;-)), they are meant to be interesting, kinda brief (no shorter than 4 minutes but no longer than 8!) and just featuring you and some background visuals, so we stick to the "natural" component of them. 

You can, for sure, accompany your speech with some visuals of any kind (ppt files, images), but of course, make sure they do not end up replacing your speech! That is what we are/ I am interested in!

I'm sure you have plenty of interesting things to share with us!

Sign up in the online doc linked below!

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