You don't need anyone to feel good

No one needs a life-coach, a therapist, a library of books, endless study material, a guru, a seminar or anything else to enjoy life to its fullest. I was NOT meant to struggle, to strive, to fight for my place, to work hard, to face fears, to do it tough ... life is meant to be fun, to feel good & be enjoyed!!!

Love,peace and fun

Eirini

10 Reasons to never Own a Business If You Are a Woman

If you are a woman and at the end of each day you look into your mirror and see dark circles the size of a full moon under your eyes -like mine in the above photo- chances are:

a/-you are severly or chronically sleep deprived
b/-you are a mother with no help with the house and the kids
c/-you are a business owner and a mother
d/-you are all the above

As answer d applies to my situation more often than not,I though I'd compile a nice list, with back up evidence supporting my claim,that a woman in her right mind,should never ever own a business.Do not disregard my claim,web people out there,it comes from 9 years of solid experience as both an entrepreneur and a mother of 4. So here it is:



10 Reasons  to Never Own a Business If You Are a Woman


If you are a woman you should never own a business because:


1.You'll have a real hard time catching a decent boyfriend or husband. The more successful you get,the more intimidating you'll be in the eyes of most men,at least for a long-term relationship.



2. Even if you do manage to get a husband or boyfriend,they' ll probably divorce you or break up with you sooner or later,or they' ll spend their days secretly plotting of doing so. Here's why.


3.Your children,if you have any, will probably resent your being a business woman, both during their actual upbringing and probably for the rest of their lives. Because kids need a stable,predictable environment first and foremost. But stability is hardly a thing characteristic of an entrepreneur's life. And since we cannot give what we do not have, a businesswoman can offer anything but stability to her kids. Unless of course her partner can provide that element for them,which is highly unlikely,because of  reasons 1 and 2 above.


4.Your house will be a mess nine times out of ten. Now,according to feng-sui experts, mess in our homes is a reflection of the mess in our lives. Take it from me,guys: this is totally and absolutely true for every woman entrepreneur with kids out there.



5. You'll be less well-groomed and so probably less attractive than other women your age. Although people think that business women take better care of thenselves because they have both the money and the motivation to do so, I can assure you this is not the case if you own a business and still have young kids at home. As other priorities (like preparing lunch for kids or preparing for a meeting) usually seem more important that the 'selfish' act of self-care,the grooming part is always left for last. Like,whenever there's an event at my school,for example,my stuff may look perfectly groomed whereas I, always giving attention to details or last minute preparations,hardly manage to even get my hair done.



6. You'll have hardly any women friends. Stay at home moms will be avoiding you like the plague and so will career women with no kids,because to their eyes you are an anomaly. Women with a career and kids like you,on the other hand will be,like you, too busy with and too tired because of their own hectic lives to maintain  a friendship.



7. You'll have a higher sex drive than most  (because your testosterone levels would be typically higher than average-slightly elevated testosterone levels can be beneficial for women by increasing sex drive) but you'll be too exhausted or too busy to act on it (this is why). A higher sex drive + hardly any time or stamina for action =a very nasty and sad combination.


8. You'll suffer from chronic stress,so you'll age faster than most women,not to mention the stress related health conditions that this entails.


9. Chances are your employees will have a hard time relating to you and/or following your leadership,especially if you live in a traditionally male-dominated society or country,because of stereotypical roles. Most men employees will try to either downplay or plainly disregard your leadership,by insisting on 'doing it their way' whereas most women employees will resent,undermine and defy it. If neither group succeeds in their said endeavors,they'll call you a neurotic,heartless,unwomanly and unorgasmic bitch behind your back.


10. You'll be forever desperate for money,because,unlike employed women with a steady paycheck or housewives budgeting on their husband's money,your own sources of income will be less predictable or reliable.


Still unconvinced? Read this great post by Penelope Trunk about the same subject.


Now,having said all that,wait until I post my next article about 75 Reasons to Be a Woman Entrepreneur to find out why,in spite of all this madness,we decide to do it anyway!

Love,peace and deeper understanding

Eirini

Be a real Greek for a day

 So you wonna know what it's like to be a business owner like me in Greece? Have a small taste of it then:


To make money in Greece, you must do it illegally or else not at all. Those-very few ones- who record their incomes honestly (yeah, that's stupid old me who believes in the just rewards of a just universe) are usually rewarded by the government with a huge fine for some honest mistake in their books,like writing a surname the wrong way,for example. Illegality is so much a part of the system in Greece that if you own a business of your own, every year the tax office (just call them the Tax Mafia,though they prefer to call themselves Tax Rambos) offers to let you legally pay a nice sum (starting at around 3000 euros=4.097 $  for small businesses) up front and thereby avoid being audited. Those who refuse to pay the sum are audited, and 99% of the time they are fined a far greater sum for some small discrepancy found in their books.


 I challenge any Greek entrepreneur who's in business longer than 3 years in my country to prove my above statement wrong.


In fact, to get anything important done in Greece, it’s easiest to pay someone off. Want to get your driver’s license? Why pay the 1000 euros needed for the mandatory driving lessons when you already know how to drive and can pay someone half that to get a proper license from an employee of the Ministry of Transportation? Need your car to pass inspection? You come out cheaper and far less hassled if you just pay someone who works there to pass it for you. Try to do things the proper way in Greece and you will be strangled by red tape and gagged with fines.


 But instead of being disheartened and taking my business and kids to greener pastures and nearby countries offering less and more honest tax paying systems,I choose to stay here to create jobs and contribute to the economy of my homeland. This is my (litterally) fight-to-death-for-my-country contribution,my 300-Spartan-warriors-lookalike sacrifice,a lost battle that I am fighting every fucking day,a fight made ten times worse by the fact that I have the added disadvantage of being a woman and a mother of four in this country...


If I sound bitter,it's because I am. Do not mistake my bitterness for defeatism or signs of surrender,though. Because I AM NOT SURRENDERING. I am staying put and fighting to death,like I said. Because I come from that warrior nation. Where even praying to the Gods was done standing up,hands outstretched to the sky,but never on one's knees. Where gorilla fighters of the near past would even go to church on horseback,forever ready for battle. Where Socrates refused to break the unjust laws of his country and died defending them.And fighting is just what we do around here.


 If you call yourself a Greek and you are not prepared to fight till death for what you hold true and sacred, you'd better leave the country now. You see, things will get much worse before they get any better (this is true for the entire world too). We don't need your cowardly vibes around here anyway,because you are spoiling the collective soup of positive,fighting vibrations necessary to get us out of this mess that was partly of our own making (tolerance implies consent after all).


Even if you are not a Greek, the collective consciousness of humanity is yours for the asking anytime,anywhere.So my rantings still apply to you and your country. Consider this: if I choose to act on something,I immediately embody the virtues of it. If I am a non-vegeterian but I choose to eat like a vegeterian for a day, on that particular day I do become a vegeterian. If I am not a coward but I do act like one for a day,on that particular day I become a coward. If I choose to act like mother Teresa for a day,I litterally become everything she embodies for a day. And if I choose to act like a real,fighting Greek for a day,I definitely become one,no matter what my national background looks like.


I stand to fight and win. And by fighting I definitely do not mean the negativity of hatred and opposition. All things negative weaken us anyway. I am talking about the indomitable spirit of the winner who is unmovable in her convictions, neither harming anyone nor scared of anyone and anything,but just revelling in the beauty of her dreams no matter what. And this is my plan for my life ever after.


 What about your plans?

Love,peace and courage

Eirini

Photo of the week

When you encourage someone to be better than they ever thought they could be, you are making the world a better place. Also in some way that encouragement for others is probably making your day as well. So  have a better day tomorrow than today and just share your awesomeness with all of us!! Believe me we need you!!

 Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a

 smile so much as he who has no more to give...

[Lucy and Faedon,happy and dirty after a nice mud bath in the local stream...]

Love,peace and sharing

Eirini

I'd rather be left alone...

                                                I confess:



  I am sick and tired of the invasion of my personal space..

I suffer from invasion of personal space overload syndrome!


Here are a few symptoms of my condition:

 I don’t answer the doorbell every time. I  have stopped answering my cell phone when it is inconvenient ( that means most of the times,because when I'm working,I am working and when I am resting I definitely need my rest!) I only check my emails once a week or every ten days and I am even selective to whom I talk to on the phone at work. If you call me at home,my kids will tell you I am not around or the phone might be unplugged. I guess the best way to communicte with me nowadays is to come by and see me personally at work,where I see almost everyone out of necessity, or send me a text message on Facebook which I frequent  for fun and inspiration and which is a medium impersonal enough and so safe enough for me to express myself without being bothered too much by annoying attitudes and/or people .

Quite a few of my acquaintances have chosen to be offended by this attitude of mine.Have I turned into a hermit or a diva or something more sinister all of a sudden?


No, I haven't. I suffer from invasion of personal space syndrome.Which means,for the past couple of years and especially for the past six months too many people have been invading my personal space for the wrong reasons. Meaning,I've had too much of a load of shit to deal with in both my personal and public life and for such a long time,that now almost all approaches of communication from others are met with indifference on my part,unless they are about business. Meaning,I wish to be left alone more often than not. Even if we get to communicate initially, I probably won't follow through. Meaning,I won't be bothered to meet you half way in communication ,unless you have proven to me I can trust you not to be bothersome. (bothersome=demanding too much of my time or demanding more than I can give you at the moment).Meaning,If I have to choose between meeting you in person and talking to you on the phone,I'll choose the latter,because it's less trouble. And If I get to choose between talking to you on the phone and not at all,I'll  choose the latter, for the same reason.


Please don't take this personally.I mean,I know that you are a wonderful human being,I really do.Hey,there's hardly anyone in the world that I don't get to meet and like,because I am by nature forever focused on the positive side of people,things and situations. If you are a woman, I am honestly inspired by you inner and outer beauty and really,I am genetically much less competitive than most towards my sex.So most women inspire me and bring out my social self. If you are a man, your masculinity or other male admirable traits win my admiration and bring out my best feminine side.I might even be sexually attracted to you,but I definitely won't let you know. If you are a child,my motherly nature takes over and I want to love,guide and protect you to death.If you are my friend,I do love you dearly,think of you more often than you think and send you healing energy as often as I can,along with my loving thoughts.

 But no matter who you are,no matter how drawn I feel to you, I'd rather be left alone than get any closer to you right now. Because, knowing myself, I am more likely than not to absorb some of your energy,take on some of your issues,emotional or other (don't tell me you don't have any because that's a lie and you know it), and try to help you to the best of my abilities to overcome  them. But frankly,this is too overwhelming and exhausting,especially at times such as these that my own reserves of strength are low,because of the depleting power of other shit in my life.


Maybe you feel the same. Maybe you too,are suffering from the same syndrome.If that is the case,take heart,for I have some advice that has come in handy for me:


-Know thy limits

-Choose how and with whom you spend your time wisely

-Learn to say no

-Avoid energy vampires like the plague

-Explain to those dear and near to your heart about your need for privacy

-Find,create or steal some me-time and treat it like a sacred date with your God-self

Above all else,be unapologetic about your need for privacy and space

Love,peace and personal space

Eirini