So I started this 2 weeks ago. I’m finishing it and posting it tonight
because of all that’s coming out in the next paragraph. That’s me life, mates.
All, listen up. I have
more book-y things that I can’t help but talk about (again). 2019 is my year of remembering what I love
about reading, I think. It just so
happens that these book-y things have corresponded largely with ends of
semesters and beginning of a new course, and 100 essays due. But that’s also partly why I’m here today:
What is saving your life, today?
I halfheartedly listen to a podcast that ends every show
asking the guest this Barbara Brown Taylor question: What is saving your life
today? And in my moments of
mind-boggling business, I’m trying to find those chunks of time (even if it’s
just 3 or 5 minutes while I’m waiting for the next thing to start) and to
remember those daily rituals that truly do save
my life right now.
One of those key “things” for me right now is BOOKS.
A few years ago, I virtually s-t-o-p-p-e-d reading
fiction. I didn’t stop reading…just
fiction unless I knew for 100% and certain that I was probably going to like
it, which means that I pretty much quit the habit. I dove hard into memoir and non-fiction,
which I was finding to be more reliably satisfying for me. I went through a period of time where it
seemed like virtually every fiction book I picked up was gimmicky, cheesy,
trite, predictable, formulaic, and gag-inducing. Largely speaking, I loathe first person
perspective. Generally, I don’t want to
see the end of the story in the first chapter.
Often, I find dialogue tired and irritating.
However, I’ve discovered book-ish podcasts, as I’ve
mentioned. Spoiler: I now listen to 3 a
week.
These
really get my ink filled heart ventricles pumping, let
me tell you. Maybe it’s the soothing
tones of the podcasters’ voices. Maybe
it’s their collective ability to hit on the best bits of the stories.
Maybe it’s something else…don’t know. But it’s almost single handedly
reunited me
with fiction, and I’ve been hoovering up a good bit of it (at least
relative to
my recent couple of years). Renewing my
confidence in a good story is truly saving
my life right now.
(Also, one particular kind of coconut granola. It’s perfection. I buy myself 1 box a week and burn through it
often M-W. There are more than 3 servings
in a box. Imagine how I feel when I read
while eating a large-y bowl-ful.)
I meant to write a gabby little post over Spring Break five weeks ago about book-y things and
book-ness and probably some book-itude, but it never happened because,
honestly, I was reading. So I’ll add
this to my life saving moments: carving out thou-shalt-have-these-few-moments-each-day-just-for-reading
time has been such a boon to my mental health of late. I work ever so much better when I set myself
up with manageable chunks of work to do each night and then STOP. Knowing that I have a personality that enjoys
a challenge, even if that challenge is DUMB, like “how much can I work tonight?”
is h-u-g-e to understanding my limits.
If I don’t set them from the outset, then I just don’t stop well or
enough. That’s another one that’s really
saving me right now. And it only took me
a decade and a half of adulthood to start figuring that one out. (Maybe if I had read a book about it earlier…)
And so, like the particular coconut granola and my book time,
I have a few more things that individually are a blip on the day’s radar but
collectively are evidence of me supporting ME.
·
Taking a deep breath
·
Not caring if I’m wearing my same, favorite
clothes a lot
·
Ice cream – just a few bites
·
Ginger beer – so delicious
·
Food in the freezer – not just the ice cream,
but packing lunches is ever so much
easier when you can pull a muffin or some flatbread out of the freezer to
get things started
·
Project VII front porch lemonade gum
·
Waiting an extra 5 minutes to wake up the girls
in the morning – a few more pages of reading & we still get out of the
house at the same, general time
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