Pregnancy tips

Obvious pregnancy tips

As I am in the middle of my second trimester, I thought I would share some tips. Nothing unexpected or that you have never heard before but I can see it is working for me or at least until now. It is helping me to stay healthy and relax during this special time.

• Your body is changing and you can get tired very quickly so one advice: take it easy ! Don’t rush, don’t push yourself too hard especially at work. You are now breathing for two, it can be exhausting.  On the other hand, you can sometimes feel a lot of energy within yourself. Take advantage of these days to do yoga or to go swimming. It is good in every way: body, mind, spirit. Being slow does not mean being inactive.
• Eat clean. Although I tend to eat as clean as I can (I am not perfect), I also never restrain myself. Variety is the key. No meat or fish for me but I am used to do so since I am fifteen. There is not one single rule when it comes to food. Except maybe no alcohol and listening (at least considering it) what your doctor tells you.

• Follow an easy and simple routine. I never wear a lot of makeup but I am trying to focus on the quality of my skin. Dry skin is never confortable so I use a body cream (odorless) more than usual. After the first semester, your hair won’t need a lot of caring: the hormones make them grow faster and less oily that is why I tend to keep a very minimalist routine.
• Love yourself. Your baby will thank you and your partner will love you even more. It will help you going through the pregnancy, no doubt. Obviously, you will gain some weight but it is for a good cause, it is better not to care too much as long as you are healthy.

• Read as much as possible! Having a brain activity is so important. Essays, fiction, non-fiction, books about pregnancy… Whatever. The point is to stimulate your imagination, your critical thinking, to get informations and a lot more.

• I know, I said to take it easy. But being pregnant also means that you have a lot of administrative procedures to do, documents to fill in and appointments to attend. I am very very bad at doing these things but since september I try to do it on time because I am no longer on my own. Yes it is boring and not fun but it is for the best. Getting stuff done is important.

• I never thought I would be pregnant while living in Paris, I always thought I would be in the countryside. I need fresh air, trees, long walk in the forest or just being surrounded by silence or the singing of the birds. Observing nature is necessary if I want to stay positive. I know I should go more in parcs or force myself to escape the city even a few hours…

Above all, I believe the key is to listen to yourself and your body. Make some small changes in your everyday life if you feel the need but nothing too dramatic. Try to avoid stressful situations and take care of yourself. And as my doctor said “you’re pregnant, not sick.”

PS: Happy birthday my love.

Wondering: Symbolism & Pop culture

The reasons why Symbolism should inspired more people today are obvious. What you can read about this artistic movement is disturbing because it seems to fit so well in our current state of mind.

Edgar Maxence

Symbolism initially developed as a French literary movement in the 1880s, and was in many ways a reaction against the moralism, rationalism, and materialism of the 1880s that had come to dominate Western European culture, and proclaimed the validity of pure subjectivity and the expression of an idea over a realistic description of the natural world. This fin-de-siècle period was a period of malaise – a sickness of dissatisfaction. Symbolism served as a means of escape.

Moralism, rationalism, materialism and, shall we add to that, consumerism. Besides, aren’t we in a “period of malaise”? Do I need to say more?

Odilon Redon

As opposed to Impressionism, in which the emphasis was on the reality of the created paint surface itself, Symbolism was both an artistic and a literary movement that suggested ideas through symbols and emphasized the meaning behind the forms, lines, shapes, and colors. The works of some its proponents exemplify the ending of the tradition of representational art coming from Classical times. Symbolism can also be seen as being at the forefront of modernism, in that it developed new and often abstract means to express psychological truth and the idea that behind the physical world lay a spiritual reality. Symbolists could take the ineffable, such as dreams and visions, and give it form.

Symbolism successfully did what Pop art tried to do a few centuries later, but with talent. Yes, for me, there is no debate: the most controversial art movements of the 20th century, the so-called Pop art (and his scammer leader Andy Warhol) is just a big fraud. I never felt any spiritual values or connexion with any work I have seen. Art is subjective, of course, but art should also have a non-profit-making basis, which was obviously not the purpose of Pop art. It also said Symbolism opened a door to modernism: with the creation of new technologies, internet, blogs, online communities, we obviously need a new pair of eyes to understand our world. 

Odilon Redon

Wanting to imbue their works with spiritual value, these progenitors of Symbolism produced imaginary dream worlds populated with mysterious figures from biblical stories and Greek mythology as well as fantastical, often monstrous, creatures. Their suggestive imagery established what would become the most pervasive themes in Symbolist art: love, fear, anguish, death, sexual awakening, and unrequited desire. Woman became the favored symbol for the expression of these universal emotions, appearing alternately as wistful virgins and menacing femmes fatales.

These recent Peplum films, from Gladiator to Alexander, Troy, 300, Alexander, Noah or even the very bad Kingdom of Heaven, walk in the footsteps of Symbolism inspirations. Super-heroes movies follow the same pattern, I believe. It seems that the film industry find a big inspiration in myths and Biblical sources and that a regain of interest for these subjects in the past 15 years can not be ignored. Cinema gives us an overview of a déjà-vu ambition and try to make people escape from the boring and depressing reality, in the manner of the symbolists but through another material. As for “wistful virgins” and “femmes fatales”, it seems that nothing changed or am I wrong?

Gustav Klimt

In terms of specific subject matter, the Symbolists combined religious mysticism, the perverse, the erotic, and the decadent. Symbolist subject matter is typically characterized by an interest in the occult, the morbid, the dream world, melancholy, evil, and death.

Vampires, zombies and others creatures, new forms of utopia or sexuality: does it ring a bell? Books or movies, these subjects are everywhere. Although in our pop culture, the world “decadent” does not totally apply because everything is often too polished. 

Gustave Moreau

This was just an initial idea, I am not trying to say that “before was better” (there is no such a thing, except maybe if you are referring to The Garden of Eden), only that the spiritual values  that governed and guided our symbolists usually are, in our current pop culture, forgotten for the benefit of visual performances, false polemics, naive love stories or general interests and I find it a bit sad because there is a lot more to be inspired about. Indeed, what is left?

Gaetano Previati

Sources : http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/symb/hd_symb.htm  and http://www.theartstory.org/movement-symbolism.htm