When I decided to quit my full time employment it never occurred to me that I might become a part of a new international trend. A lateral move that hurt my pride and blocked my professional progress prompted me to abandon my relatively high profile career although, in the manner of a disgraced government minister, I covered my exit by claiming I wanted to spend more time with my family.
Curiously, some two-and-a-half years and two novels later, my experiment in what the Americans term downshifting has turned my tired excuse into an absolute reality. I have been transformed from a passionate advocate of the philosophy of having it all, preached by Linda Kelsey for the past seven years in the pages of She magazine, into a woman who is happy to settle for a bit for everything.
I have discovered, as perhaps Kelsey will after her much-publicized resignation from the editorship of She after a build-up of stress, that abandoning the doctrine of juggling your life, and making the alternative move into downshifting brings with it far greater rewards than financial success and social status. Nothing could persuade me to retur When I decided to quit my full time employment it never occurred to me that I might become a part of a new international trend. A lateral move that hurt my pride and blocked my professional progress prompted me to abandon my relatively high profile career although, in the manner of a disgraced government minister, I covered my exit by claiming I wanted to spend more time with my family.
Curiously, some two-and-a-half years and two novels later, my experiment in what the Americans term downshifting has turned my tired excuse into an absolute reality. I have been transformed from a passionate advocate of the philosophy of having it all, preached by Linda Kelsey for the past seven years in the pages of She magazine, into a woman who is happy to settle for a bit for everything.
I have discovered, as perhaps Kelsey will after her much-publicized resignation from the editorship of She after a build-up of stress, that abandoning the doctrine of juggling your life, and making the alternative move into downshifting brings with it far greater rewards than financial success and social status. Nothing could persuade me to return to the kind of life Kelsey used to advocate and I once enjoyed: 12-hour working days, pressured deadlines, the fearful strain of office politics and the limitations of being a parent on quality time.
In America, the move away from juggling to a simpler, less materialistic lifestyle is a well-established trend. Downshifting also known in America as voluntary simplicity has, ironically, even bred a new area of what might be termed anti-consumerism. There are a number of bestselling downshifting self-help books for people who want to simplify their lives; there are newsletters, such as The Tightwad Gazette, that give hundreds of thousands of Americans useful tips on anything from recycling their cling-film to making their own soap; there are even support groups for those who want to achieve the mid- 90s equivalent of dropping out.
While in America the trend started as a reaction to the economic decline after the mass redundancies caused by downsizing in the late 80s and is still linked to the politics of thrift, in Britain, at least among the middle-class downshifters of my acquaintance, we have different reasons for seeking to simplify our lives.
For the women of my generation who were urged to keep juggling through the 80s, down-shifting in the mid- 90s is not so much a search for the mythical good life growing your own organic vegetables, and risking turning into one as a personal recognition of your limitations.n to the kind of life Kelsey used to advocate and I once enjoyed: 12-hour working days, pressured deadlines, the fearful strain of office politics and the limitations of being a parent on quality time.
In America, the move away from juggling to a simpler, less materialistic lifestyle is a well-established trend. Downshifting also known in America as voluntary simplicity has, ironically, even bred a new area of what might be termed anti-consumerism. There are a number of bestselling downshifting self-help books for people who want to simplify their lives; there are newsletters, such as The Tightwad Gazette, that give hundreds of thousands of Americans useful tips on anything from recycling their cling-film to making their own soap; there are even support groups for those who want to achieve the mid- 90s equivalent of dropping out.
While in America the trend started as a reaction to the economic decline after the mass redundancies caused by downsizing in the late 80s and is still linked to the politics of thrift, in Britain, at least among the middle-class downshifters of my acquaintance, we have different reasons for seeking to simplify our lives.
For the women of my generation who were urged to keep juggling through the 80s, down-shifting in the mid- 90s is not so much a search for the mythical good life growing your own organic vegetables, and risking turning into one as a personal recognition of your limitations.
九年级英语句型转换专项一
英语中考语法(一)名词专题复习(1)
中考英语短文填空练习一
九年级英语上完成句子专项练习
英语中考语法(五)动词专题复习(1)
点击重点句式链接中考考点(二)
九年级英语上词汇专项练习
九年级英语上动词时态练习
击重点句式链接中考考点(一)
英语语法大全整本收录(六)动名词
初中英语常用量词词组及其它词组
冠词考向分析与考点训练
中考英语精选真题讲解
八年级英语用词的适当形式填空
初中教材中的八个IT句型
英语语法大全整本收录(七) 动词不定式
从词法和句法入手巧解短文改错题
中考英语词汇练习后三册
九年级英语单选练习50
八年级英语上重点词组练习
八年级英语上单选专项练习一
英语语法大全整本收录(十三)句子的种类
英语宾语从句专题复习
八年级英语单项选择专项练习一
中考英语完型填空之答题技巧:精选巧选
九年级英语上完型填空练习七则
中考英语词汇练习前三册
点击重点句式链接中考考点(三)
英语语法大全整本收录(一)名词
八年级英语单项选择专项练习二
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