Sometimes I MISS The Old Days... Blogging Along With Effy Wild Day #18

Effy Wild's post today is all about her version of "planning" (go HERE to read her post) and she "nudged" us to share a "Life Hack". (?)  So then I went into the Best Tool EVER, (the Google search box) and asked "What is a Life Hack?" and this is what came up from :

life·hack

ˈlīfˌhak/

noun

informal

noun: life hack

1. a strategy or technique adopted in order to manage one's time and daily activities in a more efficient way.

Or as the Urban Dictionary says:

A tool or technique that makes some aspect of one's life easier or more efficient.   "Life Hackers" share suggestions on how to reduce chaos and make their lives more enjoyable. 

 

Ooooh! So THAT's what "they" mean!  We just used to call that LIVING! Grin  I remember, in the days before the Internet, when we women used to regularly gather and share over coffee or wine, there were always two main topics of conversation; 1. how much our kids/partner/boss was making us crazy and 2. time-saving tips that we had tried and either worked or didn't work.  (With good recipes being a close third).

But now that we have the Internet, the World Wide Web, Instagram, Facebook and TEXTING! (imagine me making the old fashioned "warding off the devil sign" to the word Texting... Grin) my Female gatherings are not quite the same.  Sigh  Don't get me wrong, I appreciate all these wonderful new tools and having instant access to information.  I am so grateful that I did not have to call my adult daughter at 7:00am this morning to ask "What the heck is a Life Hack?!" (I can actually HEAR her eyes rolling even over the phone.)  

 

And I especially like that I no longer need an entire shelf for reference and information books and that I no longer run around the house yelling at the top of lungs "Where the HECK is the Phone Book!!"  And now that I am living with menopausal short term memory loss the fact that I no longer have to remember all the phone numbers to all my favorite people and places is a GOD SEND! (I actually forgot my own phone number last week and had to speed dial the husband and ask him for it... in front of everyone at the information desk... not embarrassing at all!!)

But I digress - the point is Yes, these new processes and tools are wonderful and convenient and I have said many times "What did we ever do before Google?"  And even though I do not want to go back to the "old days", I do miss that physical gathering of women for the sole purpose of sharing the information and tips we had collected all month long.  Don't get me wrong, I still have regular gatherings with my friends but now there is no need to share tips and recipes, we actually say things like "Did you see that post on Facebook yesterday?  The one about the: insert time saving tip, video recipe, gardening tip; you get the idea.  

 

In those "old days", when we were all together in the same room sharing, there was an energy that was created as information was passed along; the common thread of being the caretakers of our families and juggling the house and family and daily living duties that were on all our plates connected us on such a basic level that in this one area we were all equal.  So is this it??? Am I now of the "Remember When?" Generation... CRAP, I'm not THAT old now am I?? Grin

So my point after this wander down memory lane (or falling down the rabit hole?)  is I guess the biggest time-saving, chaos reducing tool in this 55 year old's arsenal - or my "Life Hack" is (wait for it...)  

GOOGLE!

I am blogging Along With Effy Wild all this month.  Go Here to discover Why and How you can join us! 

Lynne Mizera, of the Older Generation