A blog post has been brewing in my mind for a while now given the state of well… everything! And aside from the much discussed politics of Trump and Brexit, a significant, divisive (and perhaps equally alarming) ‘blame culture’ also seems to be on the rise.
Whether the state of the current political world is related or not, many articles seem to be popping up about ‘Millennials’ – that is the generation (of which I find myself a part) born from the early 1980s (specifically 1982-2004) who are often characterised as narcissistic, entitled, and tough to manage in the workplace – as outlined in this video by Simon Sinek.
Interestingly, in my experience, the majority of people sharing this video are firstly those who are (by luck of their own birth date) not of the ‘Millennial Generation’. Don’t worry though – if you, like me, are a Millennial, I like to think that there is still hope for us! But seriously, it is much less often that people seem so willing to share similar videos or writings on their own generation’s weaknesses. No, rather… we seem to live in a blame culture and we would rather blame the other.
So, for the sake of balance, here are a few things that we have to thank millennials for:
The problem with generalisation
While trends over time are fascinating by their very definition, generalising an entire generation puts people into boxes, allows for voices to go unheard and creates and ‘us and them’ culture.
It is, of course, easy to look for a scapegoat for society’s problems and we all know that statistics can be manipulated and used to prove whatever you want them to. It’s easy to for people to generalise specific generations – examples include the stereotypes of the parenting problems of Generation X and the Baby Boomer‘s economic drain on society. But I don’t feel it’s appropriate to infer that this is the case for every person who happens to be categorised by this specific terminology. The fact is that while general trends can be interesting, I would argue that when we do it to focus on the negative, it isn’t at all helpful and only serves to create more social barriers across society as a whole.
And as this world seems to be tearing us apart so rapidly from every angle, I think a more constructive response would in fact be to not be drawn into the blame culture of what divides us. Finding things that divide us is easy. The challenge is to come together.
‘Unity is strength, division is weakness’ – Swahili Proverb
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Photo Credit: PJ Nelson
Many changes have taken place for us over the last week. Not least, we sold our apartment and bought a new one (well, contracts have been exchanged and the process is underway). We’ll still be living in Stockholm – in a different area of the city called Helenelund. As we work from home 50% of the time, we felt that we needed more space to be able to have a home-studio setup to allow us to work more efficiently and effectively.
The whole thing happened rather quickly, (and might I say in a very un-Swedish fashion). I shall elaborate: The housing market (as I have come to know it) in Sweden nearly always operates on a bidding system – apartment viewings are at very fixed times and following these open-house shopping experiences, potential buyers begin a ‘bidding war’.
With a housing shortage in Stockholm and changes coming into effect regarding mortgages in the summer, it seems that there is more competition than ever when it comes to apartment listings and we have heard so many first hand accounts of people losing out during the bidding process.
So… last Thursday I received a phone call from our estate agent with an offer from a potential buyer who wanted to bypass this whole system (she wasn’t Swedish) and just make a fair offer. After a little negotiation, it seemed that everyone was happy and we accepted her offer – bearing in mind she hadn’t even seen the apartment at this point!
Inspired by our buyer’s forward thinking, now knowing our flat-hunting budget and not wanting to miss out ourselves, we took the same daring step and reached out to the estate agent of an apartment we were keen to make an offer on and asked what price the seller would accept.
Thankfully for us, it all worked out… By Friday afternoon we had viewed the new apartment, signed the contract to sell our home and buy our new one. And by Friday evening we were ready to crash on the sofa!
But it feels good. The new flat will need a little renovation but it will be great to put our own stamp on it.
So… if you need me, you’ll find me browsing colour schemes, upcycling projects and home decor ideas on Pinterest for the next few months.
Oh and our current flat is no longer the ‘tidy show-home apartment’ that we managed to create for the one-client viewing… that only lasted for about half a day!
January has closed its doors.
February is welcome now… slightly warmer than its winter cousin (for now at least)…
But let us not forget January:
When doors were pushed.
Steps were taken. Just baby steps and tiny movements.
But movements all the same.
And now February is here.
And answers lie around the next corner.
Answers which I do not hold they key to…not yet.
But I do hold onto hope.
I let it surround my heart.
Build me up. Inspire me. Encourage me.
I try to hold onto faith as well as hope… and hope that both don’t slip away through my fingers.
Welcome February.
Help me to jump beyond my baby steps. And take the leap you want me to.
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All Photos © 2016 Anita & Benjamin Tatlow
Many of us like things to be unique. To tell a story. We want art. Creativity. Beauty.
If you have been following me, you will be aware of our current Kickstarter campaign. But this post is not about us. This post is about other independent creative friends who have interesting projects I am choosing to support. They have all chosen to pursue their passion (often in place of steady, stable jobs) which is truly admirable. So if you want to support independent artists…here is a good place to start!
Independent Books
Jess McGlynn – Secrets of the River
Independent author Jess McGlynn has released her first independent book for download on Amazon. I am currently half way through and enjoying the plot twists and turns immensely. As it turns out…some secrets just can’t remain hidden…
Way to go Jess!
Independent Film
My ex-colleague and friend, Joseph Bentil, has taken a career change of late (although he has always been involved in acting), and has played many supporting roles in Independent films. I have yet to download the independent film Sweetboy, which they have had success in being shortlisted for San Francisco Black Film Festival in June 2015 and the 2014 American Black Film Festival in New York. This is just awesome!
You can also support the Kickstarter for one of his latest projects, The Receptionist.
Music
The extremely talented Mara Simpson, who we knew from our university days, is going from strength to strength and celebrated the release of her debut EP this year! You can support her by buying her music from her online store here. We’re looking forward to the next chapter Mara!
Music – CEDM
If this is more your thing, you must must must check out the incredible giftings of CEDM producer Levi Whalen. We were fortunate to collaborate with him (from afar) when he remixed one of our tracks earlier this year. His latest release, Timelines is not to be missed!
Artist
Mercy Kagia is an artist and friend, who we met in London, during the five years that we lived there. unique style. Her artwork captures the most important details in its simplicity. Beauty in its fullest. You can find Mercy on Facebook. Oh…and we may have commissioned her to do a portrait for Salt of the Sound! Coming soon…
You guys are inspiring. Never stop chasing your dreams! x
Photo credits: All the artists’ own work.
I feel that it’s time for an update on summer in Sweden….or rather…the lack thereof! Yes…the weather has not been on our side so far this year. (This picture was captured on a rare day!)
People keep on asking if we have been away this summer and the answer is…we haven’t. But don’t worry – we’re not too hard done by as we did head to the Austrian mountains and Salzburg in May for over two weeks and we’re heading back to the UK a couple of times in the Autumn.
We have been doing other things instead…more about that later.
In and amongst this, we have taken a couple of trips within Sweden; explored the town of Sundsvall (which is 4 hours north of Stockholm) and took a road trip to camp out in a bear hide…twice. (And although we didn’t see any bears, it was a great experience!) We’ll be heading back next year to try again for sure.
Our summer focus
Our real focus this summer has been (and still is) working on and finishing up our second full length album which is due for release this Autumn. I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so excited about a release and I feel that this material is the best we have written to date!
For this release, we decided to do a Kickstarter campaign and in just 1 week, we have reached over 50% of our goal. A huge thank you to all who have joined with us in bringing this closer to reality.
What’s in it for you?
Ahhh…that age old question. The good news is…a lot!
If you choose to support us in in our crowdfunding campaign, you are not just donating. You can exchange your donation for a whole range of rewards, such as:
- Getting our music before anyone else (with exclusive bonus tracks!)
- An exclusive limited edition ‘Salt Of The Sound’ bamboo USB stick with all our music on!
- An exclusive ‘Salt of the Sound’ tote bag.
- In fact, there are 17 DIFFERENT REWARDS for you to choose from.
By backing us in this campaign, you will be supporting us as independent music artists and in our music ministry.
So…if you feel that you can spare just 90SEK, $10 or£6.60 or more (yes – the exchange rate is very much in your favour if you don’t live in Sweden at this time), you can get one of our great rewards and we will be eternally grateful to you!
Why kickstarter?
You can read and hear more about why we are doing this over on the kickstarter page and take a sneaky peak at the video below.
Thank you all for your continued support for our music ministry. Having you join with us means more than you know.
Anita x
