Category: women

Addiction, coaching, free speech, Motivation, parenting, Uncategorized, women

Why do people hate life?

Katrina Russell

I suppose a good place to start is to ask what is life? If you Google this question the first response is a dictionary entry

life

/līf/

noun

1.the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death.”the origins of life”Similar:existencebeinglivinganimationalivenessanimatenessentitysentiencecreationsurvivalviabilityesseOpposite:deathnonexistence

2.the existence of an individual human being or animal.”a disaster that claimed the lives of 266 Americans”

I don’t really think that helps. I mean, I guess it helps to understand when life begins and ends, which people seem to have forgotten somehow.

When you ask people today about life you tend to get responses like, “Life sucks, then you die”. They actually put that on pins and bumper stickers. People commiserate with each other about how awful life is. They talk about how we spend our whole life working just to die. This is the general consensus.

The amount of Gen Z and Millennials who never want to have children is staggering, and they mostly blame the economy or climate change for this problem. Which is ridiculous when you think about the fact that people have been having children since people have been around and we are richer as a society than we have ever been.

People are putting gadgets and comforts before actual lives. And I don’t mean that metaphorically. Women are actually killing their children and most of the time it is over financial reasons. It may interfere with their career plans, or kids are just too expensive to begin with. In 2023 there were 1,026,700 babies murdered before they were even born. That doesn’t seem “safe, legal and RARE” as everyone used to claim they would be. This is a genocide People are purposefully killing unborn people for their own desires. Women are being taught that having a baby is not even one of the choices they can make.

Celebrities like Chelsea Handler make mock videos like, A Day in the Life of a Childless Woman in which they talk about doing the most useless and ridiculous things just to glorify this path. People are told that being able to travel is impossible once you have kids, but then people complain that they can’t travel anyway because they always have to work to support their lifestyle.

Now this lifestyle that they speak of isn’t the same as Chelsea Handler’s running off to Paris for the afternoon. No, it’s $10 coffee drinks, and $300 bar tabs, and takeout every night because cooking is part of the patriarchy. It’s the latest iPhone, and the latest shoe of choice (whether it be a Jimmy Choo or a pair of Nike with a celebrity name on it all of which cost more than my rent in the 90s). And none of this counts as being excessive it’s just “self care” . Which we can’t forget hair and nails done every week.. that’s what life is all about now.

People are being taught that human rights are not actually rights and that humans are the problem. They are being taught that free speech and meritocracy are the problem and that the only thing that is important is buying more things and not working, because working is the patriarchy. Which is ironic since it used to be that men did most of the work and women just lived life taking care of their kids and the home.. but that was bad too. Everything is bad.

If you have a bad feeling take a drug. If you have a good feeling take a drug. If you’re not feeling enough take a drug. If you’re feeling too much take a drug. But whatever you do. Do not go outside and get fresh air. Do not exercise. That is the patriarchy telling you how you should look and feel. Here.. have a pill instead and zone out on the couch watching other people live. Because life itself is the problem.

parenting, Uncategorized, women, Women's movement

How much to you pay other people to take care of your family?

Katrina Russell

Everyone says that they can’t afford to not have a 2 income family. They talk about how expensive kids are and how much it costs to run a household, yet they forget that a lot of the expenses that they speak of are only necessary because they have a two income family.

There are literal memes out there complaining about how their parents bought homes, and cars, and paid for college all on one income back in the 50s…. meanwhile. I’m almost 50 and my dad was in grade school in the 50s so I don’t know how old these Gen-Zers think their parents are. They are going back at least 4 generations to talk about the times of the 50s.

On top of that they complain about the families of the 50s and how they would never want to live the “trad” life. A woman shouldn’t be forced to stay home and take care of their family all the time. They should be free to work everyday of their life and complain about how they would much rather be home but they can’t “afford to live” without that 2nd paycheck.

Some part of this is true. You can’t always keep up the same lifestyle that you want to live with only one income. For instance this was the average house bought in the 50s. There was no dishwasher, no washing machines or dryer, no microwave. no a/c, no trash compactor, or probably garbage disposal… and that’s not even getting into the fact that there was one phone that was plugged into the wall. Complete plumbing (hot and cold piped water, a bath-tub or shower, and a flush toilet) was only available in 64.5% of homes in 1950. There probably wasn’t a TV and there was one radio that the whole house shared. I mean, sure, it was affordable back then. There was a lot less to buy.

Now people want a new $1000 phone every 2 years. A new car every 4 years. That doesn’t include computers, tablets, gaming systems. shoes that cost more than most cars did back in the 50s, and if you do buy a house and something breaks. No one learns how to repair things on their own. They just call someone to deliver a brand new one. Shopping is the worlds pastime.

A new house today comes with all of the amenities. There are refrigerators, and ovens that can talk to your phone so that you can know when there is a problem and it’s ready to buy a new one. There are sound systems set up all over the house that can connect to which ever electronic you Bluetooth with to make a movie or song play through out the whole house and outside… but that’s not an extra. That’s just normal today. When I was a kid a house didn’t even come with a fridge.

And that’s just the house. Now lets talk about daycare. You can’t afford kids or for both parents to not work because daycare is on average $18,886/ per year. Then if you add more than one kid you’re talking almost the average salary for a person in the US per year; $47,424. Then when you start to add some of the other things like take out for a household is about $3600/ year (a household can also include 1 person living alone so the average for a family of 4 will be substantially higher). All of this doesn’t count things like grabbing coffee, or other snacking items along the way. In the 50s families rarely ate out together. Moms just cooked.

Then there are the other extras that not everyone partakes in like having someone come in and clean the house once a month or so. That’s about $2400/year. Then you can add in things like pet walkers and groomers. When you start adding in things like every TV/Movie app, and personal trainers/gym membership, then yeah life can be quite expensive, but it doesn’t have to be.

How much are you paying other people to do things for you. Things that you could do yourself if you weren’t working. Things you would probably enjoy doing if you weren’t working. Everyone complains that they don’t have enough money, and everyone complains that they hate working. Hell, everyone complains about he capitalistic society that we all live in… yet, we work a 2 income family to not spend time with our family so that we can pay other people to take care of them, so that we can buy things we don’t need, and complain that people before us had it better… because they didn’t priorities the latest iPhone.

parenting, women

You know you’re the ones raising these kids, right?

Katrina Russell

I saw a post on one of my mom group pages the other day about how weird it was to be in another country where none of the kids were on electronics at the dinner tables in restaurants. Apparently it’s all the rage in the States. I responded that I didn’t really notice this. That when I go out I tend to see parents and children interacting at the table. I was then asked if I was Amish….. In case you are not aware… not Amish.

I was then berated by mom after mom about how much they hate how all the kids are on their phones and tablets at the table. How kids today are like little zombies with no ability to communicate with anyone in person. How disrespectful all the children walking the street are just little hooligans.

I then proceeded to say that my child doesn’t use electronics at the table. That the one time he was given permission to use his tablet while I was out with a friend because he had been disappointed that his friend couldn’t come, he actually only stayed on it during the short time that we waited for the food to come and then immediately put it away once the food arrived.

This seemed to anger the other moms. Basically saying things like, “Oh, good for you,” and “,aren’t you just special”. These moms went on to say that it’s not that easy with their kids and that not everyone has the same… I don’t know… opportunity to not have their kids do this. One went on to say that it’s not like the old days when people brought crayons and books for their kids.

I don’t know who these moms think are raising these kids. Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe no one is. I responded that I don’t bring books and crayons either. I just include my kid in the conversation. I assumed that everyone else did this as well. That is LITERALLY how you teach kids communication skills and how to be respectful. I’m not sure what these moms were expecting.

I know that in the 90s there was a big push that “it takes a village” to raise a child, but I didn’t think that would lead to parents thinking that they were off the hook. I mean, honestly, where do these parents think that their children will learn good habits and responsibility? They act like kids just come out as is and it’s their bad luck that they got ones that do these things they don’t like and there’s nothing that can be done about it.

I can’t imagine the world that my son is going to live in in the future, but I can tell you that he’ll be one of the few with the skills to compete and thrive. So he’ll probably be one of the first shipped off to the Gulag.

coaching, Health, Motivation, Wellness, women

Mother’s Day “Treat”

Katrina Russell

Mother’s Day was fabulous. My son’s father took our little boy and me out to a wonderful brunch. I, for the most part, have been eating very healthy. Doing what needs to be done to be as healthy as possible…. but… it was Mother’s Day, and I decided that I should images (26)“treat” myself… well, technically my son’s father treated me… but you know.. I deserved a treat.

I mean why not, right? What is one stack of sticky yummy pancakes really going to do? Skyrocket my cholesterol… tighten my jeans? No, One treat on my day was what I deserved.

What I didn’t deserve was the feeling that I got afterwards. I was laying on the couch in a sugar coma. No energy. No desire to move. My belly felt like crap…. oh yeah.. what a wonderful treat for me. Totally what I deserved. It reminded me of a drunk saying that they deserved one drink, and remembered the next day about the hang over.

You don’t realize when your habits are horrible how gross you actually feel. You don’t realize how the sugar in your system sucks the life out of you. How groggy, and just bleh things are. You don’t realize that a treat is seeing your son’s face light up when you have 20170520_230734a race into school because you can keep up with him. A treat as a mom is hiding in a crevice for hide n seek that previously you couldn’t fit. Being able to carry the giant child that your baby has become up the stairs without getting winded. All of those things are treats. A stack of pancakes.. that’s just a distraction.

I’d rather 100 more Mother’s Days with hand print flowers than risking getting off track by caving to my sugar cravings and feeling how I felt.. sleeping away My Day… because I wanted a treat that made me sick.

Life is about choices. I choose to be healthy.