Too Many Ideas For A Lifetime
Too Many Ideas For A Lifetime
Update + curated link roundup.
It was a busy week. Another one of those weeks where I wrote a bunch, but everything is too long for these messages; and frankly not the right fit for it.
For the past three weeks, we’ve had at least one kid home for one reason or another: sick, taking a mental health day, etc.
One or both of my kids’ schools email almost daily about a new (or several) Covid-positive case(s) in one of our children’s classrooms.
The stress is palpable.
(And I’m beginning to question the accuracy of those at-home antigen tests as we’ve swabbed ourselves so many times yet still, somehow, have all avoided Covid throughout the entire pandemic… *knocks on wood*)
I’ve halfway resumed “normal life” within the limits of my heightened health issues, and the mental release from lockdown stress has been heavenly.
I’ve enjoyed connecting with friends in person, but recent meets have begun with me saying things like: “So… one of our kids’ classrooms has a positive case (again), but none of us have symptoms and we tested negative—are you still comfortable meeting?” or “One of our kids’ is home sick today, but tested negative for Covid—are you still comfortable meeting?” or “My (foot/ankle) is acting up today—would you mind if we meet near my place?”
It’s always something, it seems.
But this is all new terrain for everyone—mistakes will be made and things will probably be weird for a while.
I lead my first virtual autistic adults Meetup group last week, and I loved it.
I utilized skills gained from my previous business, and doing live webinars and coaching sessions (I even made worksheets!), and was able to tap back into those skills with relative ease—skills I thought I might never use again. It felt good.
But with everything going on and me overzealously writing long personal essays that are probably more memoir material than useful here (says the person who published an essay about my first edible experience last week), I decided to keep it simple this week with a roundup.
One.
I’m currently reading Ten Steps To Nanette by comedian Hannah Gadsby and enjoying it after stopping Untamed by Glennon Doyle about halfway through. I’m sure many would/do love Untamed, but it just isn’t what I expected; and I wasn’t feeling it at this time. But there were several solid nuggets in the beginning that might make checking it out desirable to many.
Two.
Go figure: The New England Journal of Medicine published a study overturning claims of intermittent fasting’s efficacy. As someone who becomes nauseated and vomits uncontrollably if I go too long without eating (thanks, Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome), I know firsthand that intermittent fasting isn’t for everyone. But not eating for a 12-hour over-night period works for me, and I will continue to do it. It’s proven to help me regulate my appetite (i.e. if I eat late at night, I’m ravenous first thing in the morning. If I don’t eat past 7 or 8PM and don’t eat before 7 or 8AM, my body feels balanced, and I get “I should eat” in the morning instead of me panic-scouring the kitchen for breakfast before I start vomiting…).
Three.
Alabama passes a bill making some transgender healthcare a felony. What year is this again??
Four.
I remember being mesmerized by Jewel’s soulful, melodic voice in the late nineties, only to find out she’s a long-time feminist who’s still fighting today.
Four.
I’ve been obsessively listening to older episodes of Psychotherapist Esther Perel’s Where Should We Begin? podcast on relationships. Whenever I get glutened (Celiac); or get too hot or ingest too many histamines (MCAS), I experience brain fog and often manic thoughts. I’ll feel insecure in most of my relationships, and listening to this podcast really helped center me through the most recent gluten contamination. And as a bonus, I feel like I’m learning better interpersonal communication skills, as well as pervasive thoughts management skills.
Five.
A friend and I chatted about homeownership versus renting last week, and I shared my internal battle with wanting to own again, but also wanting to stay as far from ownership as possible after our experience selling our house (among many other reasons). And after hearing a podcast where a man’s property insurance cost hiked exponentially due to climate change’s effect on his area; the man will likely have to abandon his home and take a major hit with nothing to show for it (much like what happened to my family of origin after getting evicted from their paid-off, owned home over property taxes…), I doubled-down on my desire to remain “free” from all the burdens and risks of ownership. But this article on how, on average, homes earned more in 2021 than their owners did annually doesn’t help my internal battle in the least...
Six.
Yes, justice is sometimes served: A man actually faces legal consequences for assaulting and threatening his ex-wife.
Seven.
I highly enjoyed the White House Correspondents’ Dinner videos. Here’s a “top moments” video from NBC, and here’s President Biden’s full speech, as well as Trevor Noah’s.
Eight.
“I have too many ideas for a lifetime.” —Taylor Wilson (As my brain overflows, I fear I’ll never have enough time to capture every idea—this quote felt perfect this week.)
Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you back here next week!
My best,
Sara
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