life is difficult

EXTREME COLD THOUGHTS

I like the idea that life doesn’t have to be hard. I wonder if I’ve made it difficult for myself by thinking that it is. In The Road Less Travelled, M. Scott Peck begins with “Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths.” I know that it is true, but is there more to it than that naked statement. I will have to reread the book to see what else he has to say. Oh boy, another book to the list! I’m up for it. It will make the winter interesting and go fast. No time to complain about the cold.

The radio said it was – 34 C this morning. It is now sitting up a balmy -29 at 4 pm. It will go down again tonight and tomorrow morning the forecast is -36 C. If you don’t like winter or the cold, it could be hard. There’s that extra clothes and paraphernalia to put on before going out. Everything slows down. It takes longer to get anywhere and do anything. There’s snow to shovel. It’s cold out. There’s the dog to walk. It’s cold out. Water mains break. Then there’s no water. There’s snow and it’s cold out.

I look at this as a blessing, a gift in disguise. I can slow down and relax. I can move to the rhythm of the season. Mornings, I can snuggle just a little bit longer in the warmth of the bed, sip an extra cup of tea, not get out of my pjs if I don’t want to. I can do that. I’m retired. We had a water main break and no water on Sunday. I was in the middle of making sourdough bread. Oh boy! was what went through my mind. I was thinking of kneading dough and icky hands. We had some water in a couple of kettles for immediate use. My brother is a couple of blocks away. We got enough from him. It was fixed the same day and we got water again by 5 pm.

I discovered that I could make do with little water. I am resourceful but how often do I turn the tap on without thinking? A disruption of life as usual need not be a hardship. It’s a  good wake up call to live differently – maybe even to live in a more easeful fashion. Sometimes I fuss and fret over nothing. The cold is good for stopping all that in their tracks. I like to live in the slow lane. The car is going as fast and safely as it can at this temperature. Don’t push it. And to be wise and safe, Sheba and I just trotted a few blocks around the ‘hood. We are old gals. No point in trying to prove we’re not.

So ends my mumblings for day 14 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Sorry if it is a bit disjointed and jarring. Though I’m thriving in this cold, it is a little numbing in the head. I had been out for lunch with my fellow retired and still working nurses.  I had just come back from galavanting with Sheba.

LIKE A TRAINED SEAL

There are more days than not that I don’t feel like doing anything. Days where I feel I need a shovel to pry me off the couch. I’ve gone through a bout of insomnia. Now I feel like I have sleeping sickness. I’m sleepy as soon as I get out of bed. Life is difficult as M. Scott Peck says in The Road Less Travelled. He wasn’t kidding.

The reason I don’t stay down is it is more exhausting resting than not. So I pushed myself up and out. By now I have trained myself well to get up, dress up and show up even somnolent. I am like a trained seal, performing in life’s circus. Don’t worry if I do sound dark and sardonic. This is my tapping voice. I’m speaking mostly to myself, sorting out feelings and problem solving. I’m feeling the hibernation response – nature’s call to slow down. I should have been a bear.

But I am not. I must rise to the call of being human as best as I can. I am probably not as slow and despondent as I feel. My chili peppers are dehydrating on the deck, the tomatoes are saucing on the stove and the pork roast is in the oven. I will finish my tea, Dyson the floor. Then Sheba and I will head out for our walk and some sunshine. The fresh air will perk us up. Another day.

LIFE IS DIFFICULT

Life is difficult, writes M. Scott Peck in The Road Less Travelled. He wasn’t kidding. Life is damn hard. You probably know that already. I struggle every day – how to be, how to talk, how to. The list goes on and on. This morning I’m struggling on priorities, what to do first, what to do after that, and then WHAT.

What I enjoy first thing after getting up, dressing up and showing up is my cup of tea. There is just that time, tea and me. I’m trying to keep it that way and not let anything mess up my mind except a book of fiction. It’s nice to escape into someone else’s creativity. Sometimes reality is overrated. Besides, who can you believe nowadays?

This morning I came across an interesting article: Doctors and Scientists explain why vaccines aren’t safe. It’s pretty convincing. Jenny McCarthy is not just an actress with no merit. But then there are just as much information out there to negate all of this. So much fake news. When and how did all this happen? Life is difficult. It can be depressing but I won’t let it be. I will stay loose and open, gather and investigate information and do the best I can. It is important to stay informed though sometimes it’s more comfortable being naive.

Enough of that! It’s time to move on or I could depress myself. On setting priorities, the one nagging on me was contacting my parents’ insurance company about the hail damage on their house. It’s never an easy or fun time. You have to make repeated calls or emails to get any answer or action. I always feel that I’m beholden to them. It should be the other way around. Aren’t they working for us? We’re paying, paying those ever increasing premiums every year. On a happy note, the adjuster replied back that the claim was processed. But why didn’t they send me the info as I was told?  I waited 2 months and I had to ask for it. I’m sure their answer would be, Do you know how many claims we have? I’ve heard it often enough.

Damn, life is difficult!  Living is a repetitive action with many repetitive injuries. Did you exercise today? Did you do your warmup and stretches? I did. It prevents injuries, you know. Now to decide the next thing…