"I appreciate you..."

I'm always fascinated with the ways that people can lift up other people.  We live in a world that is often a little too corrosive and vindictive and sometimes the use of the world 'love' can be a little too widespread.  I mean, I love tacos, too, but that changes the word itself in some ways.  I wish we had more words that mean something similar so I can talk about my mother in a different way than I talk about tacos. 

But this isn't a blog about that....or maybe it is.

There are lots of ways we can talk about and to others that show we see them for who they are and that we accept them just as they are.  This seems a remarkably important topic this month.  Happy Pride for those who celebrate!

This is a blog about the ways which we can acknowledge the joy we find in the company of others.  We don't often just say, "Hey, I like you" - though maybe we should.  I have so many people in my life that mean different things to me...and recently, I gathered some of them together and connected some overlapping threads that I thought needed to be connected.  During this time, one of them said something that she has said before and it struck me even more than it had because of the situation during which it was said.  

I appreciate you.

It seems so simple....but the more I think about it, the more I see how many layers it has.  Not in any kind of negative way, but it has layers.  It suggests acceptance of who you are - faults and strengths alike.  It suggests acceptance of the entire person.  I don't know that it is better than 'love', but it feels different.  Maybe it's because it is less common.  Maybe it's because 'love' is used in so many different ways.  Maybe it was because it followed the same person saying, "I like the humans you collect."

I do, too.

This is a short blog...but I have decided I can't worry about length.  I just need to say what I have to say and send it off into the world.  That is the only way I'm going to be more frequent with these blogs.

I have things to say.  I don't have to take a long time to say them.

Also, I appreciate you.

"Call me a hippie, or whatever..."

Hey, I'm back.

This is the first time I have put words on this screen for this blog since April 2020.  I keep thinking I should write in it, but then I don't.  Sometimes, I don't know what to write.  Sometimes, I don't have the energy.  Other times, it doesn't even cross my mind.  But I put it out into the universe that I was going to bring it back.  So, here we are.  

There are a lot of terrible things going on in the world and a lot of hard conversations that don't make much sense but are driving us anyway.  Conversations about gun control and war, about race and the state of the earth, about illness and wages.  So many painful events leaving people feeling lost and hopeless and afraid.

But I don't want to talk about those things - at least not directly.  I likely will, but right now I think I'd rather have my first blog be about something more positive.  I went to the doctor recently for a physical.  I've only seen this doctor three times and I've really appreciated her every time.  Two were physicals and one was to talk about my medication.  All three times I felt listened to and that we were on the same team.  That's a pretty incredible feeling. 

When I went to talk to her about my medication, she mentioned that I likely had something that she has seen in a lot of her patients - something called an adjustment disorder.  She put a note of it in my file and gave me some suggestions on what I could be doing.  She thought maybe it was just the weather or just a temporary thing based on the fact that the entire world seems to be exhausted.

Shortly after that visit, I got COVID and all attempts to do anything for my brain noodles went right out the window.  The semester ended and I managed to go for an amazing walk the other day.  I've started counting calories, and I lost 6 pounds in the first week (don't panic - a good chunk of that was probably water weight).  She told me she was super proud of me and encouraged me to keep it up.

She is a huge proponent of mindfulness, she said.  We can exercise and eat right and we should do those things, but we should also make sure that we are taking the time to breathe and take in the world around us with more attentiveness.  We should learn to listen to our minds and our bodies and take the time to practice meditation, or yoga, or just mindful breathing.  And she uttered the phrase that is the title of today's blog and the thing that has been rolling around inside my head like so many marbles for the better part of a week.

She is so incredibly right and I am so thankful to have a medical doctor who not only endorses these kinds of things, but actively encourages them.  So, while I may not have a doctorate in something that gives me any kind of authority, she kind of does.  That gives me the clout I need to pass these suggestions on to you.

Okay, not really.

But I want to encourage you to 'be a hippie or whatever' and take the time to do the things that help ground you to the present and remind you that you are alive and that is an amazing thing to be - despite all the ugliness in the world.  So, please, take some time for yourself. 

You absolutely deserve it.  You crazy hippy, you.

Side note...I just realized I'm wearing a tie -dyed tank top that I bought in Woodstock, NY last summer.  Serendipity.