Living French: 7th edition

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For the French, walking isn’t just a way to get your healthy 10,000 steps in each day. Walking is a part of normal everyday life. It’s a way to get fresh air, possibly surround yourself with nature, and socialize with your community.

The cost of living in France is high, especially in urban areas, and Paris is consistently ranked as one of the world’s 100 most expensive cities in the Mercer Cost of Living survey. A quality I really admire about French lifestyle is that the French don’t care about trends. They wear what flatters them and brings them joy. The only “trend” is to put care into how you dress and always look presentable, but beyond that, it’s really about individual style. 11. Savor everyday routines to create a French lifestyle To help you learn French cuisine, see the following articles about the best French pastry cookbooks of all time, and the best French cookbooks by actual French chefs. You can find all the best French recipes here. 11. Enjoy A French Apéritif Have you ever heard about the fact that French people love to complain? Well, we are not complainers, we are just râleurs.In France, museums and culture are perceived as economic attractors and are considered to be able to promote local economic development. And the State invests massively in culture thus contributing to strengthening its influence. Just to give you an idea, in 2018, culture in the French economy is nearly 2.3% of GDP, 80.000 cultural enterprises, and 670.000 jobs, or 2.5% of the labor force (source: Ministère de la Culture). Invest in quality skincare products. In episode #13 of the podcast, specifics are shared on how to create glowing skin, and by investing in quality skincare products, your most beautiful skin will shine. The power of prevention is real, and while it takes time and a bit of investment, the pay-offs are tremendous. Oh how we loved the 3 hour dinners full of multiple courses while we were in France. While 3 hour dinners aren’t always doable, it is pretty easy to course out a dinner. This is probably one of our favorite aspects of French lifestyle. Be sincere, yet kind. While everyone has days that you are simply grumpy for any list of reasons, taking it out on others is something you will most likely regret. And even if you have to deliver news that isn’t favorable, there is always a way to do so with kindness. Being conscious of how we treat people and our delivery will almost always be appreciated, and even if it is taken for granted, at least we can go home at night and feel good about the energy we put out into the world.

The French don’t judge you by the car you drive, they judge you by the books you read. Being well read and cultured is an extremely important part of French lifestyle. Embrace this custom of French living and cultivate your own intellectual wealth. Don’t do it because you’re trying to prove something, but because learning can be a pleasure and an adventure that’s available to us every day. Dive into any interest or curiosity you may have, no matter how fleeting it may seem, and devour material on the subject. Don’t limit yourself to any particular genres, but instead embrace a well rounded selection of knowledge. You may surprised to find what ends up interesting you or what you learn. In France, we’re much more comfortable with confrontation or with criticism than in other countries in the world. And râler is more like a cultural, conversational tic. It can be a way to open a conversation: one’s can complain about the weather, the government, or just the fact one’s lost their keys or phone. With highways crisscrossing the country, driving in France is a pleasure, although parking in cities is limited and expensive. Motorway tolls are high, but you can avoid them by taking detours along more scenic roads. If you’re from the EU, you can use your driving licence from home. Expats from outside the EU must have an international licence and convert to a French licence within six months of arriving in the country. Listen to an eclectic mix of podcasts ( My favorites include: IGNTD, Happier, How I Built This, Magic Lessons, Modern Love, The School of Greatness, The Simple Sophisticate, and Straight and Curly) Next time you’re recapping a trip you went on, try sharing a funny story or something you learned about the culture, rather than running through a laundry list of sights you saw

And in so doing, paying attention to my home environment, I began to pay attention to how I spend my days. Was I exhausted and unfilled at the end or exhausted and feeling productive? Did I have time in my day to spend it with those I loved, converse with those who engaged in creative, uplifting and thought-provoking conversation or care for myself in such a way that respected my overall health? And depending upon my answer, I would tweak, eliminate, maximize or designate more or less time to those activities that improved the quality of living. It’s a way to invite other people’s opinions, but above all, it’s a means to connect, build intimacy, and bond with others. Because let’s face it, life is complicated and is definitely not picture-perfect. And in France, someone being too optimistic about things can be perceived as being naïve and insincere. On the contrary, sharing good and bad things in life is seen as a sign of authenticity. 9. Be Authentic