"I don't believe it" aka the Victor Meldrew thread [bitterness and resentment]

[Lob]

Actually the question isn't "am I becoming Victor Meldrew" [wikipedia] but this:

me in a Carrie Bradshaw moment
Am I becoming more intolerant and bitter, full of resentment because I am becoming older - or because I live in Switzerland and work in Zurich?

What do you think? Are you changing - and if so, to what do you attribute this change?

[Uncle Max]

Hmm, maybe I'm becoming more intolerant and bitter, full of resentment etc. because I am becoming older AND because I live in Switzerland and DON'T have work...
---
Everyone's an Idiot, and I'm no exception

[Gav]

	Quote:	Lob Rockster
	Actually the question isn't "am I becoming Victor Meldrew" [wikipedia] but this: me in a Carrie Bradshaw moment Am I becoming more intolerant and bitter, full of resentment because I am becoming older - or because I live in Switzerland and work in Zurich? What do you think? Are you changing - and if so, to what do you attribute this change?

That was exactly the question I was asking myself recently.

I guess I'll be able to answer it in 6-12 months time......

I do tend to attribute my recent (past few years) lowered levels of tolerance towards others to attitudes that are prevalent here. But of course it could be because I'm getting grumpier as I get older.

I can tell you that I've changed a LOT since I came here but then again I could have changed a lot over that time period anyway.

Well, that's that cleared up then


Gav

[gbn]

I'm somewhat worried that "I'm turning into my dad".

Anyway: old age is when your broad mind and narrow waist swap places...

[heather]

	Quote:	Uncle Max
	Hmm, maybe I'm becoming more intolerant and bitter, full of resentment etc. because I am becoming older AND because I live in Switzerland and DON'T have work... --- Everyone's an Idiot, and I'm no exception

I'll see Uncle Max's older, live in Switzerland, don't have work and raise it by saying that I have no clear idea of where I'll be living in a few months and whether or not my husband will have a job.

[DanielL]

I think I've noticed the same change in myself. As i'm getting older, my opinion of the way everything should be sets firmer and firmer. Thus, my patience with anything not exactly fitting that decreases.

Basically more convinced that i'm right and the world is wrong
(and how stupid of the world to think otherwise)

[smbuzby]

Everyone gets more conservativeas they get old - think of how many wannabe communists you knew at university, compared to now....

When I was living in the uk, commuting to London, I used to get very frustrated with the trains. Now when I go back, I much more relaxed about it, because I expect them to be shit. The rarely disappoint .

Point is, I guess don't get too cranky about stuff, rather try to manage your expectations, you get less disappointed and have less stress

[Yokine]

	Quote:	smbuzby
	Everyone gets more conservativeas they get old - think of how many wannabe communists you knew at university, compared to now....

What's the old saying.....

"If you are twenty and not a socialist, you don't have a heart. If you are forty and still a socialist, you don't have a brain."

[Galatea]

I take it from these posts the vast majority of you are thirty something. As I race into my 40's (where life is supposed to begin) let me tell you... things only deteriorate. Things that once brought me pleasure now really drive me crazy... Last night was a classic example...

When I was 3 I would sit for many happy hours in the garden, with my pet chicken Sally, sat among the flowers pulling the wings off daddy long legs... For years I took delight in torturing these funny looking flying anomalies.

BUT NOW I'M OLD AND THEY GET THEIR OWN BACK!

Last night at 4am I was rudely woken by a daddy longlegs dancing all over my face in what could only be described at a malicious revenge act for all its fellow long legs I annihilated in my youth.

Stumbling around to find the light switch to get put on my glasses (my eyes are not what they used to be), I knock over a glass of water, all over my bed (spend 5 minutes blotting up the water with my towelling dressing gown because I don’t want to trek into the bathroom for a towel).

Now my fuse is beginning to blow…

Eventually I manage to turn on the light to be dive bombed from all sides by the daft daddy still dancing about. Pick up the magazine I was reading before I went to sleep, wave my arms frantically in the vain hope of hitting it and it disappears!

Now I’m really losing it…

The blasted thing is nowhere to be seen… after hunting it down to the curtain I finally put it out of my misery, hitting it with such ferocious blows that they would have killed an elephant, I head back to bed. Only to discover my now age weakened bladder needs emptying (we are now at 4:30am: things take so much longer when you get older)

I have now lost the plot and am stomping around like a bear with a sore hole…

Donning my soaking wet dressing gown (yes, I should have gone to get a towel in the first place) I stumble into the darkness of the landing, where I promptly trip over and step on the cat, who promptly claws for my trouble on the offending foot as I fall head first into the bathroom where I land in a heap, only then to realise the release mechanism of aged bladder is faster than my body or brain and I have another pool of water to contend with along with a foot now pouring with blood (now 5:10am).

5: 20am, washed, changed, bandaged and very tired I snuggle under my duvet and try to get back over to sleep, remembering the days when getting a damp spot on the bed was much more fun and way less stressful! .

What Im trying to say is Victor Meldrew is in us all irrespective of where we live... IT WILL ONE DAY BE YOU! And when the only red flag's flying are the belly warmer, passionkiller knickers hanging out on the washing line!

[evilshell]

	Quote:	smbuzby
	Everyone gets more conservativeas they get old - think of how many wannabe communists you knew at university, compared to now....

That's not always true. I'm far more liberal now than I was at 21.

[Oldhand]

Same here Evilshell, i'm more relaxed and a lot more comfy in my skin. Maybe it's because i've got to the stage of thinking "enjoy it it's only going to get worse"

[gbn]

	Quote:	evilshell
	That's not always true. I'm far more liberal now than I was at 21.

Perhaps it's the maturity and self confidence, being at peace with yourself, and knowing your place in the world?

I'm not the same person I was at 21 either, but I don't know if I'm more liberal or more reactionary. Definitely a better person.

Or is that older, sadder and wiser?

However, I am more mature, know myself better and have less to prove etc etc