Don't hold your breath!

If you tell someone not to hold their breath, they shouldn’t put their hope in something, have high expectations or wait for it to be successful. People hold their breath in anticipation of something happening, sometimes quite literally… and it’s not physically possible to hold one’s breath for more than a few minutes.

1.      In Brazil, if you expect public works to be finished on schedule, you shouldn’t hold your breath.  

2.      If you’re hoping for a lasting peace treaty between Israel and Palestine any time soon, don’t hold your breath. Not everyone can get exactly what they want out of that situation.

3.      The damage done by the global financial crisis in Europe will take many more years for them to recover from, so don’t hold your breath waiting for the Euro to regain its strength against the US Dollar.

4.      BRICS is the title of an association of leading emerging economies including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The BRICS members are developing or newly industrialized countries, but they are distinguished by their large, fast-growing economies. If you were hoping for Kenya to join the BRICS countries and make it “BRICKS”, don’t hold your breath… they are a long way off in their development.

5.      When I ask my students if they think it’s possible to eradicate (totally eliminate) corruption in Brazil, the answer is never optimistic… and now with an expanded vocabulary they can tell me not to hold my breath.

6.      Don’t hold your breath if you think Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, is ready to relinquish (let go of) his control and influence over his government in the next 20 years.

7.      India and China will not resolve their Tibetan border dispute in this lifetime. Don’t hold your breath!

8.      Don’t hold your breath if you think my country, South Africa, will win the next soccer world cup.