The news headlines lately have been chaotic, troubling and outright craze balls most days. Regardless of the political party of your choice, the day to day grind is wearing all of us down in one way or another. At least based on my unscientific survey of friends and family, we're all getting a little sick of the crazy all at the same time.
How to fix it? No idea.
Wish I had some good, constructive advice on making our nation's political sickness better, but the honest truth is that I'm as stumped as everyone else. It's beyond frustrating and exhausting, and it feels like we're all Alice, falling down the crazy rabbit hole together most days, doesn't it?
In the meantime, though, our day to day life moves forward. However much our worst days may feel like a crazy xerox copy of crazy on a hamster wheel going nowhere, there has to be some way to find some joy and comfort amidst the chaos.
Yesterday, I spent the entire day coaching a middle school track team in 40 degree weather that consisted of gray skies, constant misty rain, and an endless mud-covered football field in between runs. It was miserable, I'm not going to lie, and my body is getting even with me today for overdoing it yesterday in ways I can't begin to explain.
So finding a little comfort and joy in my day is an essential survival skill.
Right now, I'm savoring a cup of delicious hot tea with a little honey, drinking in not just the beverage, but also the smell of comfort that wafts up from my cuppa. Taking the time to notice the little details grounds me in the now, and allows the crazy of yesterday to fade into the background. It relaxes me to be present instead of always looking behind, and it makes looking ahead a little more clear in terms of ascertaining what I want - and what I do not want - going forward.
My plan is to spend a little time today decluttering and reorganizing a couple of areas in our house. Less clutter means less visual chaos, which makes me a much happier person not seeing the constant reminder of my to do list right in my face. Less really is more at our house.
There may be a nap or a hot soak in the tub in my future. A little pampering can do some serious repair work on my frazzled brain, even if it is just a few stolen minutes in some warm, bubbly water before the next crisis drags me back out into the crazy again.
The key for me is to find something, every single day if at all possible, but some small thing that allows me to re-center and re-focus on the now instead of the laundry list of things I can't get done to my satisfaction. To be present in what I am doing in the moment, rather than ticking of the list of things "to do" next. Because that list never ends, it never goes away, and it will never, ever be done.
Staying in the "what am I working on at the moment" mindset allows the rest of the list to recede a little bit. At least for a while, anyway, and sometimes that is enough to give my brain a break.
It isn't a perfect system, but it is something to try to find the joy in the little, day to day things, every single day. Because every day, there needs to be some opportunity for comfort and joy, don't you think?
What are you doing for yourself these days to find a little comfort and joy? Do tell.
(Photo by Christy Hardin Smith.)
1 comment:
On sunny days we go for a nice two-three mile walk. If there's a minus tide, we head out to the ocean to see the tide pools. I like to photograph the sunrise, and I'm always running outside to see if there are any atmospheric optics to wow me. It's the season for planting the garden. We never turn on the TV to watch news.
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