I'm Here To Drink Coffee And Begin Again, And I'm All Out Of Coffee (J/K, I'm Never Out Of Coffee, But You Get The Point)
Want to get a jump on Giving Tuesday as well making me put my money where my mouth is? Consider donating to Odd Salon’s 2021 Survival Fund - I’m matching donations up to $1000 total!
Good morning, my loves. I’ve been finding these harder to write, as of late. I don’t know if the pandemic has just broken me, or if only seeing the walls of my apartment day-in and day-out is mushing my mind up, or if, like my daily yoga practice, this is a habit that I’ve let slide, and therefore I need to just get my stuff together to do the thing. But I wanted to mention it - I know everyone’s found the last few months to be especially trying, and I’ve discussed my cyclical quarantine response a few times (insanely super productive one day, finding it hard to do anything of value the next). So consider this my attempt to “begin again” by naming what ails me. I know that sort of personal emotional rundown isn’t why you lovely readers open this newsletter every day, but I appreciate that you’re willing to entertain my musings on the way to random links to the internet.
Related to what I talked about above, Friend of the Missive Tre shared this BBC piece on how lockdown is impacting our memory, and they had me at “If If, since lockdown, you have found it hard to remember to email someone, summon up the word you need, or yet again forgotten to buy the milk – you are not alone.” As it points out, I am indeed missing water cooler chat, and missing telling random anecdotes over and over again in social situations. One of my favorite skills is meeting new people and the art of small talk—and it is an art, don’t @ me—it’s how I’ve built a career and a friend circle of some of the most interesting people in the world. I love love love love love meeting someone new and listening to them get excited about something, or tell me about their parents, or walk me through my they love their jobs. And it hasn’t happened the same way since March (when I, in fact, spoke at Odd Salon and had my last go in a social situation.)
Related: How to make this winter not totally suck, according to psychologists. This piece is an excellent resource for some of the issues discussed above.
Might as well throw this second Vox explainer at you as well, more as a gentle nudge to myself to get my meditation practice back on track: “Our calm is contagious”: How to use mindfulness in a pandemic. (and thank you Biden transition for being the absolute best demonstrators of keep calm and carry on I have ever seen…)
And finally, entry one bajillion into the “McSweeney’s Just Gets Me” folder: THE VOID IS FULL. PLEASE STOP SCREAMING INTO IT.
Y’all are lovely. Be kind to each other.
Xoxo Amy