As the host of a daily breakfast show about life in Portugal, as well two weekly webinars, a private network and several social media groups, it’s fair to say I am an ‘influencer’, a title that makes me cringe slightly. My preference is to be known as someone who loves life in Portugal and delights in sharing its culture with anyone who’ll watch or listen to me.
This has been going on for a few years now, whereby people have thanked me for my trouble, or rather for troubling their curiosity, having them move here, infected with the same Portugal-loving virus that comes from being in my orbit. Others, of course, blame rather than adulate me and my messaging, for any Portugal predicament that does live up to my Pollyanna positioning and their personal expectations.
Where I’ve drifted into ‘influencing’ over the years, since I first fell in love with Portugal at first sight in 2007, waiting another 10 years to move here with only a podcast to my name, I find myself now among the big boys of YouTube, upon which my daily efforts are transmitted in a very different world. It’s all about eyeballs and monetisation on Google’s media monster, and when attention equals income, that relationship produces a precocious love child called ‘clickbait’.
You’ll have presumably seen such efforts to grab your gaze, worse still assisted by the cold, robotic influence of artificial intelligence, a robot that seeks to seduce another mechanistic and ever-present influence on our lives – the algorithm – whatever that really is, but nonetheless keeps YouTubers awake at night wondering how best to manipulate their productions to attract our views.
Personally, and whilst I seem to receive at least one spammy message every day, promising me more viewers and income, I prefer to share my enduring enthusiasm in my pedestrian (but I hope upbeat and informative) way, taking my chances as I serve the Portugal-curious community. And to be fair, clickbait titles like “I was MUGGED in Porto, Portugal” and “Portugal’s Collapse Should Scare Europe” do allude to real life challenges for people thinking about Portugal as a potential home.
One perennial clickbait catalyst is the most basic, and actually very useful question: “Is Portugal right for me?” This will I am sure remain a classic for clickbaiters, who having got your attention, will probably leave you with more questions than answers, as it does when posed on social media. There, in that often unholy online environment, simple curiosity can often be quickly escalated into public shaming, scamming or shouting matches, leaving the enquirer wondering if Portugal really is right for them, with so many opinionated, angry and exploitative people living there.
So as a reluctant influencer, please let me have a stab at that quandary, in the calm medium of words on paper or screen, and see if I can do a better job than those whose motives I have become wary of and wise to. And permit me to respond in that pedestrian way I referred to, based on my own experience of the many folks I’ve met asking this question, some of whom have ultimately stayed, and others who have departed – screaming banshee-like – on the way back to the airport.
“Hey, you’re that Good Morning Portugal! guy,” I’ve had passers-by say, who on a scouting trip might ask my opinion on how they will fare in the land of Natas and nice weather.
“What’s it like where you’re from?” I might reply.
They might say: “Well, the people have got so confrontational and angry. Everything has become political and I have family members I can’t speak to anymore. No one has time for anyone and we resent paying so much for everything. We are stressed all the time and just can’t seem to be happy. We just don’t feel safe and find it hard to trust anyone.”
Without hesitation, my response could well be: “That’s probably what you’ll find here.”
On the very same day, and to my and Mrs M’s continuing surprise, another tourist might approach, having recognised my face, sometimes my hat, or even my voice from the podcast that they have diligently downloaded and consumed religiously for months whilst researching.
Again, they ask: “What’s it like to live here?”
“What’s it like where you’re from?”, again my reply, offered more now than in the early days, when only a list of pro-Portugal sentiments and honours would issue forth from my mouth.
“Well…” they might say, “we love where we are from. The people are great and so friendly. We are surrounded by friends and family and have been so blessed in our neighbourhood and town. People get along nicely and always have time for each other, respecting each other’s views even if we don’t agree with each other. We’ll miss the ‘live and let live’ atmosphere, where we go about our lives happily, and others do the same.”
“That’s probably what you’ll find here,” I will say.
Yes, the answer is the same. And strangely enough, so much of coming to Portugal is not about Portugal. It’s more about the person asking the question, in this case – “Is Portugal right for me?”
Everyone has to make a life and a living. So I forgive, through gritted teeth, the YouTubers who are making a living by manipulating our need-to-know in order to put bread on their tables. I have even done it myself, though more out of mischief and satire, with the classics: “You’ll never believe what she said about clickbait” and “Only the sexiest, most intelligent (& least susceptible to clickbait) people become GMP!VIPs”.
When it comes to making a life however, and specifically a life here in Portugal, no one else can really know if Portugal is right for you. Anything, any information or guidance that comes from ‘outside’, will be at best well-meaning wisdom; at worst, commercially-led, clickbaity conjecture.
It’s from within that this and all questions are best answered.
As Ogwo David Emenike says in his book ‘Happiness Recipe: Eat and Stay Happy’ (which could so easily have been researched here in Portugal with its food and wellbeing connection): “Happiness springs up from within. Do not seek it without.”
He also says: “Happiness is in contentment, gratitude, and love. It is a lifestyle, not a location.”
What I can say from my own experience, is that there is much to be content with and grateful for here, but loving your life here will be your call. So let me wish you well in your enquiry and endeavours and leave you with: “Are YOU right for Portugal?”
(My thanks to Wayne Dyer for inspiration this week)
Carl Munson is host of the Good Morning Portugal! show every weekday on YouTube and creator of www.learnaboutportugal.com, where you can learn something new about Portugal every day!
