Time Change Drudgery or Satiating Sunshine? Midweek Musings

I was listening to a podcast this morning by Nichole Sachs, and this quote stood out: “We don’t have to attach to things as good or bad.” She was speaking on healing from things like pain or migraines. There is a similar quote by Shakespeare that I heard long ago, and found it interesting.

This applies very well to the time change. My son was telling me how he hates the time change, and I agree, when it comes to following a clock. When you have to be in bed by a certain time and know you have to be up in the morning by a certain time, the sudden change of daylight is confusing. Although it is the same every year, we’ve been in a certain routine for months, and it is shaken up. However, I love having more sunshine in my life!

After a morning of gray cloudy skies yesterday leaving me sluggish, an appointment for me, and driving my son to his appointment, I just wanted a nap. We got back home and I had an energy green tea. Then, we went to the gym for 30 minutes of cardio. I came back, and so did the sunshine, invigorating me along with my combination of energy green tea and a little cardio.

I wanted to paint a flower, change my sheets, and download educational videos all at one time. Well, I somehow got it all done. 🙂 At one point, I had just had what I thought was an early dinner, when I realized it was 7:00 p.m. That’s not early dinner for me, but it’s not too late either. It was still bright, so I read a paperback book for a little while by the window. I got tired and relaxed at about 9:00 p.m. and was in bed at 10:00. Much better than the night before!

There are probably a lot of us who wish it never mattered what time the clock tells us it is. I have one clock in the kitchen up high and it hasn’t been changed yet; it’s throwing me off. Trying to adhere to the clock can be stressful, yet we still do it. We have responsibilities to a job, a team, a hobby, or showing up for each other. I suppose it gives our lives purpose. See, it is a matter of thinking to tell ourselves, “Okay, it’s not so bad.”

So, the time change means, if we fix our clocks and then disregard them, I can read a paperback by the window later in the afternoon, take a nice walk after dinner, and paint in my garage with daylight shining on me. I also suppose, in time, it will get easier to wake up early again. That is the hope!

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Mid-week Musings

I’ll admit I’ve been influenced by Kurt Vonnegut… I saw a post about a letter he wrote in response to student letters sent to him from one particular class. One thing he said stuck with me.

“Practice any art, ( not to get rich) but to practice becoming…. to find out what’s inside of you, to make your soul grow.” These words are beautiful, so beautiful!

Here’s my take: Truly living is an art, and art is risky. Not everyone will get it, some may be offended… ( As May have been by one or two of Vonnegut’s books). But you are so much more enriched by your artistic expression! I feel this in my soul. I wrote a poem about censorship this morning. I won’t share it now, not until I feel the time is right, or maybe it should only be spoken?

Kurt’s quote above makes me think about the situation with books in schools in my state, Florida. Some of us feel censored, and I’ve heard stories on the dismay of elementary children who can’t get books to read at school.

A Google search on Vonnegut books being banned led me to this letter he wrote in response to his books being burned in one school district in 1973. After all, freedom of expression is a FREEDOM. Check it out: https://fs.blog/kurt-vonneguts-letter-book-burning/

With that, I bid you adieu.

A Day in My Life…day 1. #RRBC #Blogchallenge

January 2, 2023: Good morning, blogosphere! Get ready to hear from me more in January! The writer’s/reader’s book club I belong to, Rave Reviews Book Club, has issued a challenge: to blog about our life everyday in January. I have accepted! One of my goals is to keep writing semi-regularly, and the blog helps me do that with its accessibility to a phone app where I can use speech to text, with much editing of course!

Today, the last day of my teacher’s winter break, I woke up to give my mom a hug before she left for her cruise, and I did a little transferring of some written poems about teaching life into a draft using speech to text. I’ve been writing them and compiling them over a few years of my ongoing career as a middle school English teacher. I am considering putting all of them into a book and publishing it, maybe this year?

I began the transfer process about 3 days ago. I haven’t done much writing for my Ellie manuscript over this break, perhaps she is on a needed sabbatical? The arthritis pain in my hand keeps me from sitting and typing for too long lately. My attention span has also been different since the pandemic. Maybe it keeps me moving and not still for too long, something I am vowing to keep doing, as it helps with stiffness and lessens the occasions I’ll suffer from sciatica.

If you don’t know me well yet, then you are just now catching on that I am no spring chicken, ( though I can act and dress much younger…notice my raptor t-shirt below), and I have a number of body pains. I read on the subject a lot and am very interested in the mind/body connection when it comes to chronic or recurring pain. Calming the brain is a constant goal of mine, as I sometimes get anxiety. Today, like almost every day, I listened to Dan Bruglio’s vlog on YouTube called Pain Free You as I ate breakfast. I’m sure there are lots of other vlogs and podcasts on the topic, but this is one I happened upon and I kind of like. It has become part of my routine and my life.

I also took my car in for service today. Not exciting, I know. After dropping it off, my son (who is off work today) and I walked home, as it is located maybe a mile away, and I like to keep active. It’s a foggy, cool day, though the humidity is quite apparent. It certainly shows up on my hair!

You can almost see the humidity in the air!

The rest of my day will consist of taking down the Christmas tree, hopefully not paying too much money for my car brake service, and possibly getting more walking exercise. I think I’ll read my current fiction book, which I’ll give more details on later in the week. Have a great day!