Every few months it seems we’re treated to yet another orgy of statistics about who is happiest in the world, which is the best country to live in and so forth, and the various criteria upon which the researchers base their findings. While this may all be very interesting and enlightening stuff (not to mention good for certain marketing purposes), it seems to promote the idea that somehow, how happy or well-off we are is due much more to external than internal factors.

As someone who is happy to admit to being heavily influenced by his immediate surroundings, statistics about the perceived quality of life elsewhere really start to grate after a while. If you want to check out another place to live for example then by all means go there and sample it frequently over the course of a couple of years or more if necessary, then decide if it’s for you.

It’s easy to find people that will happily berate the area or country they live in and do absolutely nothing about it (I’ve been guilty in the past), but like the old dog that lays on the rusty nail, yelps and still does nothing to change, when all is said and done, they’d rather stay put. Jim Rohn once said “You are not a tree”. It’s hard to argue with that .

A long-standing friend of mine who is good-looking, gifted, bi-lingual since birth, recently married to a wonderful woman and with a new baby, sent me an email saying that it “seems you’re in the right place” (France). Here’s the extract I received from him:

The UK and Ireland are the worst places to live in Europe, while France and Spain are the best, according to the latest uSwitch Quality of Life Index.

The UK came 9th out of the 10 European countries in the Index, thanks to high living costs, below average government spending on health and education, short holidays and late retirement. The Index shows that people in France enjoy the highest quality of life, closely followed by Spain.

People in the UK pay the highest prices for food and diesel, yet the government spends below the European average (as a percentage of GDP) on health and education. We also work longer hours, retire later, receive less annual leave than most of our European counterparts and get less sunshine along the way – not to mention the fact that we can expect to die two years younger than our French counterparts.

The UK no longer has the highest net household income in Europe, after falling behind Ireland, the Netherlands and Denmark. In the past, the relatively high net income in the UK has offset the poor quality of life, but this year net household income it is only around £5000 above the European average, compared to £10,000 above last year.

My friend has talked about moving to Germany for a few years now. It would be good for him to make the move and he seems certain of what opportunities and earnings are on offer in his chosen profession in a city he already likes and knows well (he spent a year there during his university studies). So what’s stopping him? It’s hardly fear of the unknown. Neither is it his wife. He can count on several people’s support to help with the move if that’s what it takes. The only conclusion I can draw, and I could be wrong about this, is that it all seems like too much hassle.

If he reads this, it’s likely he’ll have a few choice words for me and no-one can blame him. Every so often we all have to ask ourselves what’s stopping us from doing something that we feel strongly or passionately about and what we’re prepared to do (and not do) in order to make it happen. Alternatively, the key may lie in seeking to improve and get the most of our current situation in life. From personal experience, bitching bites the bitcher baddest.

Shaun Gisbourne, Confused in Communications

For her sins, Babs is editor for Blokes on the Blog when not helping people use WordPress for their website and/or blog. She wishes she'd had this much male attention 20 years ago...