Okay, 2020 was rough. It sucked. There were things to be thankful for but there were reasons to stick the memories of that year in a box and drop them in the ocean. It would even be better if you chained a 2020 ton rock to that box. We don't want that box washing up on the shore again and unleashing more Jumanji on us.
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| Do not open that box! |
So today I decided to try and win a little battle. Let me explain. I am a computer teacher. I had my computer room arranged in the way that made it most convenient for me and the students. Thanks to 2020 and her angry child named Covid 19, my room was rearranged. I didn't like it. I used to have a good sized area for my desk and chair. To my horror I found that I had lost about a foot of space. This is a big deal, as I am sure that I managed to gain a foot of stomach thanks to six months of lounging on my couch.
We can debate whether or not the classroom is more able to prevent the spread of Covid with the new arrangement. I know which side of that debate I fall on. The big thing to me though was that I had lost so much...that whole foot of space. It was really bugging me. I endured it until just recently. My frustration level reached the limit. It was time to reclaim something. Anything...
So I moved my desk forward: Three and a quarter inches to be exact.
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| Winning the square footage battle |
It felt good. I was really able to move around. Then I started to feel weird, almost like a phobia. I looked up phobias to see if there was one focused on gaining desk space. As usual there wasn't one. I must have the weirdest phobias in the world. I am working through it. Still, it does feel like I won one finally after such a dismal year.
Maybe that is what we need to focus on. There might be a reason to look at all the tough things and not think about the little blessings that we experience. Like a honeybee gathering nectar to store in a honeycomb, so should we gather up the blessings around us and turn them into something sweet to share with those around us. When we concentrate on the good it can blur the bad, and sometimes even make it disappear.
It's not a phobia, but the best word I can come up with is nemesism: frustration, anger, or aggression directed inward, toward oneself and one’s way of living.
ReplyDeleteDidn't 'frustration, anger, or aggression directed inward, toward oneself' define depression at some point? I recall taking heed of those key words in my understanding the behaviors of someone near and dear to me about 25 years ago. 2020 impacted pretty much all of us in rural areas too; some of my blessings were in my freedom to walk about the 160-acre farm we live on, and not a city dweller confined to an apartment or the neighborhood in which they lived. Nemesism could certainly apply -- as well as depression, in those cases.
ReplyDeleteAlthough its been traditionally sub sub zero here as of late, we've had about ten days straight of sunshine that in itself lifted our dour moods and spirits decidedly, eliminating our memory of the preceding weeks of cloudy days that accentuated our negative demeanor. Add the much warmer weather, even if some of us weren't strong enough to wildly cavort in it, simply standing outdoors for a few minutes absorbing the sun and wind was fantastic.
ReplyDeleteToday, Sunday, is the birthday of the French essayist Montaigne. He said “The highest of wisdom is continual cheerfulness: such a state, like the region above the moon, is always clear and serene.”