I was at a BBQ on Sunday chatting to a woman who suddenly got her phone out her bag and smiled at me apologetically as she said “sorry ‘bout this just got to upload to Insta”.
Strange I thought, but whatever blows your hair back “a photo of this BBQ?” I asked “God no” she replied “this is so bloody dull, it’s a photo from my holiday about 3 months ago, but nobody will know that” and so an amazing sunset photo (not unlike the one above) got uploaded and her countless – I’m guessing here – Instagram followers were none the wiser.
Not only fake news, but now fake lives.
Which made me think; firstly if she was that bored why didn’t make her excuses and go home but also surely her true friends (read that bit carefully) would know she wasn’t away gazing at some heaven sent sunset in a different time zone and that she was firmly planted in the UK for the bank holiday weekend. And then, that made me think ‘so what is wrong with ordinary?’ Why can’t we have normal hum-drum lives anymore? Why should we try to convince others and I suspect therefore ourselves that we live a life of non-stop international travel, fine wine and fabulous sunsets. Why should we be embarrassed to admit we neither aspire to, or can afford that type of lifestyle.
Ordinary is not bad, ordinary allows us to set our pace, our external metronome which helps us plan out our weeks and months. Routine gives many people a sense of comfort and a feeling of stability and belonging so why try to hide from it or worse still deride it.
We appear to be living in a world where the pervasive aroma is one of entitlement, people believing they deserve to be happy every day and I think it stinks!
After surviving the Second World War do you think our grandparents demanded skiing holidays, dinner disguised as works of art and en-suite bathrooms redecorated every 2 years? Of course not, they loved the ordinary, welcomed the back to normal and who wouldn’t after having Hitler bomb the crap out of you for 6 years.
When we get to experience the extra-ordinary it is in its very essence why it becomes so special because it’s EXTRA-ORDINARY. If we had rainbows, beach side cocktails and waterfalls every day would we appreciate them as much, I doubt it. And it couldn’t be more apparent that even beautiful can wear thin, where in the movie White Mischief Alice de Janze throws open the shutters and laments “Oh God, not another fucking beautiful day.”
Viva the ordinary, viva routine now where did I leave my knitting?
Sunset photo by Azrul Aziz on Unsplash
Rainbow and waterfall photo by Dylan Gialanella on Unsplash
Knitting photo Photo by MabelAmber® on Unsplash
Strawberry Splash Down 