Quote of the week:
I have two, both from Brené Brown, who appeared on Glennon Doyle’s podcast this week.
“Language gives us a neurobiological handle on what feels too amorphous and gauzy to grab.”
“Change always includes a series of small deaths and if we don’t understand that grief is going to be a part of change, and that loss is going to be a part of change, I don’t think we can successfully evolve.”
What I’m reading:
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
How to Prepare for Climate Change: A Practical Guide to Surviving the Chaos by David Pogue
What I’m listening to:
The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins
I also listened to I Am Mine by Eddie Vedder on Audible. It’s great. I loved this quote: “The thing about music, or art, you know, paintings, novels…it’s not just desire, it’s like if you have the disease, if you’re infected, where you have to create to give it a place outside of you, it’s like exorcising the demons, it’s like cutting out the cancer, getting it outside of you so that it can no longer kill you. That is the drive… Some folks, I think they’re encouraged by some forms of trauma and that’s what provides them the never-ending rocket fuel to keep creating…because it’s a matter of survival.”
What I’m watching:
Not much. I haven’t had much downtime; I manage about 20 minutes of an episode of Ozark each night.
Writing news:
A couple fun things this week: I did an interview with the Southern California Writers Association–you can watch it here. I also had an essay published on Your Tango–“Why Parenting After My Dad Died was Nearly Impossible.”
What I’m talking about:
- Omicron. I don’t think my mental health can handle another threatening variant
- The possible overturning of Roe v. Wade and what this means for women’s rights
- My disbelief that it is December. I’m making progress on the holiday shopping
Interesting things I learned this week:
- You can find out what the climate will be like where you live in 60 years at this site
- You can see how rising sea levels will affect your area on this site
- My household is responsible for about 25,000 lbs of CO2 emissions per year (according to this calculator)
- By 2100, two thirds of California beaches will be gone
- In the US, anxiety diagnoses are up 40% since 2016; depression cases are up 33% since 2013
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
“Adult beanbag chair.” #christmasshopping
What I’m grateful for:
I’m going through a strange time. I feel like I haven’t fully processed my dad’s death (what does “fully” even mean?) and my husband’s medical ordeal really scared me. This has been a rough year. I’m grateful that the difficulty has forced me to stop and reflect on what matters. I’m planning on making some changes in 2022 so I can live each day in better alignment with what’s important to me. Change is always hard (see the second quote of the week above), but I see good things ahead. I’m grateful for that.