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The trauma of losing our normal
From the looks of my social media feeds, it appears that the world is in some kind of collective grief right now, specifically the first stage: denial. There is so much talk of “getting back to normal.” People are comfort-eating away the quarantine, just waiting for normal life to resume. I don’t think we’ve fully grasped yet that there is no getting back to normal. Normal doesn’t exist anymore. Having spent the past decade in various stages of trauma, and different stages of moving through it, I feel like I’m watching all my friends pass through this place. And for once, I’m kind of a step ahead. I think anyone…
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Hibernation
What do you think historians and sociologists will say about this time, this period in our collective lives when they look back on it in 50 or 100 years? Will they look at all the good people are doing, donating masks, 3D printing protective gear, taking food to the vulnerable people? Will they look at the rallies people have against social distancing measures, and try to break down why America more than other countries is experiencing this pushback on public health? Or will they wonder what life was like for regular people cooped up in their homes for a month or more? I have gone into hibernation, and I’m trying…
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To Know Thyself is the Beginning of Wisdom
I fail at my diet every day at 1pm. Or rather, sometime in between 1pm and 5pm. It’s that weird afternoon time where I’m prepping lunch, thinking about getting dinner ready, and my kiddo is home from school and wanting a snack. There’s a lot of time spent in the kitchen, much of it just sort of puttering around without much of a plan. I have excellent intentions. Make a beet salad. Eat spinach. Peel a carrot. And then I find myself re-discovering cake. And not only does all my good work all morning go out the dang window, but I’m playing an un-winnable game of catchup for the rest…
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Why is change so hard? (in which I disappeared for a month)
Why is making change so hard, and so confronting? How is it that I’ll have four really good days, make some progress, feel really good, and then have a terrible day. Then I want to go hide under a rock for three weeks to get over it. This is not the way one achieves goals. I know that intellectually, but it’s the whole “getting my body to go ahead with what my mind wants” that’s hard. It’s all well and good to look at quotes like this, and feel inspired: But what happens when you fear the new? What happens when you are afraid of the new because it’s an…
