Author: Carl Page 20 of 151
I remain convinced that heart of “self-care” is not pampering, per se, or spending lots of money — but giving yourself permission to listen to yourself about what will actually feel like rest and respite.
Not what other people tell you rest should look like. Actual rest, which is to say, your rest, which might not be recognizable as such to others. My partner got a massive deli-made sandwich for the first time in months and I watched it turn his entire week around.
Sometimes you just need to not do everything yourself, and sometimes you need to finally figure out what that smell is in the fridge, and sometimes you need to just delete those emails in your inbox of shame that have been haunting you for months.
I feel this. I feel this so thoroughly. My pandemic has looked like a blur. I have worked long hours every single day since March. I’ve learned Zoom. Not just how it works but how its APIs work, the changes that are going to affect the business. How to improve our interactions with it. I’ve even been reporting issues to the developers I’ve found. I’ve been neck deep in Zoom.
But that’s not all.
I’ve been doing the same thing for Webex. Compared to Zoom, it’s a lumbering beast with years of cruft and undocumented bits. Most I’ve learned by process of elimination and asking the right questions of the right support techs.
My wife and I have started getting all of our dinners through Mighty Meals. It’s a fresh delivered food service in the DC area. Instead of making the meals, all I have to do is decice what I want to eat and warm it up. The menu is vast and my only complaint is some side dishes aren’t seasoned well enough. They cook fish to perfection. They have a way with beef and brussel sprouts that’s unmatched. Their beyond meats and vegan options are superb. They make a peruvian chicken wing that will leave you wanting more. They have 100+ menu items so while we’re found our favorites, we try new things each week. If you’re interested in trying it out, use my code REFWYTV2ZY9F4 and get $20 off your first order!
Deciding what I want for dinner quickly became a game I grew exhausted of playing. So we gave up and paid to let someone else sort it out for us. I struggle enough with breakfast and when I can find time to take a lunch break. Food is an ongoing challenge. At least it’s one that’s fairly easy to solve.
I am exhausted.
Thoroughly and entirely spent.
I work in the office on a rotation with the rest of our company and every time I have to leave the house it’s a mental threat assessment. Do I stop for gas here? Do I walk into this store? Do those people look like they’ve been being safe outside of this moment? Can I pass by this group in the grocery store?
I’m thankful to live in a county that’s mandated masks in every store, office and building since March. I’m happy we are moving back to a more restrictive limit on dining inside. I see the numbers rising again and it terrifies me. Everyday is exhausting and I forget about why.
It’s not just work. Though work is exhausting on its own.
It’s the constant threat assessment. It’s deciding which family members I can see. And how comfortable I am with it. It’s trying to explain to people, nicely, they don’t meet the same threshold for safety as I do.
It’s already fighting my intense introversion and hermit tendencies. I don’t leave the house for days at a time and barely notice.
My self-care is:
- Reading a good book on my patio
- Watching the birds (especially those woodpeckers)
- Looking at the family of deer that’s taken up resident in my suburban neighborhood.
- Listening to music from my teens
- Playing Destiny 2
- Laying in bed and holding my wife
- Writing with a pilot fountain pen on paper
Everyone has different self-care. Mine won’t look like yours. And that’s ok. We all need to do what makes us happy. What allows us to get through the days. Whether your days scream by or inch by with glacial slowness, we are all struggling. That can be hard to remember. But it’s always there. Sitting in the back of your mind.
“Conservatives -Things are good the way they are, or that they WERE good at some point or points in the past. Want things left alone or to go back the way they were.
Progressives Things are not fine the way they are, and they need to change in a way that they have never yet been. Want change.”
Why Are Conservatives Obsessed with Pedophilia Right Now? | David M Schell
I think about this post a lot. The difference in world views. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. One group is looking to return to the past. The other is looking to the future for change. Nobody is happy with where things are now. Whenever now happens to be.
There’s so much fear wrapped up in the idea of the future. Especially if it’s a future that feels scary and alien to what you know. And who you know.
It won’t be long before every community standard is violated.
Think about how scary that is. The beginning of change is scary when that change is unfamiliar. It feels like things you don’t and can’t understand are happening around you and there’s a tectonic shift happening in the world.
It doesn’t help the change is packaged and sold to you as fear. Change is bad. Those who want change are bad.
It’s the beginning of the slipping of standards. The slippery slope. Careening down the muddy bank into uncertainty and fear. The refrain of It won’t be long before every community standard is violated is visceral.
It’s not just words. It’s tradition. It’s family. It’s a way of life. These things are extremely important in smaller towns. These issues feel like other people’s problems. It feels like people in big cities, who can’t possibly understand my way of life are.telling me I’m wrong.
It’s an attack on identity.
When your way of life is under attack. When you identity is questioned. You’re going to defend yourself.
It won’t be long before every community standard is violated.
That’s scary. And if you feel the change is getting further from where you want things to go, of course you’ll fight against it.
I grew up in a small town. I live near a big city. I’ve marinated in both ways of life. I can see things from both sides. I can see we are all just trying to do our best for ourselves and our families.
It won’t be long before every community standard is violated…………
Nerds.
There will be plenty of devices for everyone.
The PS5 will have a long life. The new Apple thing will be the old Apple thing in a year.
If you didn’t trade money for nothing today fear not. You will get to trade money for a thing later.
It will be just as good.
What else can I add to this?
Here’s a recreation for the inevitable day that Instagram stops working or breaks.
This is my proof that I have an excellent husband. Go with me here for a minute.
Every night I close the blinds on this window, but not the curtain. Last night was no different.
Today I woke up around 10:30 (quarantine life) and went to the bathroom. I went right back into bed, and @carlholscher came in from his home office to say good morning.
I told him I felt a little dizzy when I got up, so I’m just going to rest again for a bit. And that man, without me noticing, closed the curtains in the bedroom so that the light wouldn’t bother me. So that I could sleep til 11:30 or noon after he got up at 7:30 or 8 or whatever time employed people wake up.
I didn’t even notice it until noon when I went to open the blinds so my plants get enough light.
Don’t settle, ladies.