The harder things are in your life, the more important it is to compartmentalize and be fully present for even brief moments of happiness.
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It might be for only 10 minutes at a time. It might be just standing out in the grass watching the wind move the trees.
Might be walking your dog or listening to an album.
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You have to have those carve-outs - and you have to throw yourself into them fully.
You have to suppress whatever gets in the way. You have to push past any guilt as if you should not be having even moments of feeling happy in the midst of terrible times.
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When it comes to surviving terrible times and things:
The only way out is through.
And the only way through is to keep pedaling.
And you can only pedaling if you have the energy for it.
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And nothing refuels like even brief moments of happiness.
It is a running vaccination against hopelessness.
So, if you have plans this weekend, keep them.
If you have a thing you can do that you enjoy, do it.
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And throw yourself fully into it.
That does no disservice to the struggle. It keeps you healthy and well enough to stay in the fight.
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For me, the respite has been times# with my son (when I have him) and time in nature (when I don’t).
Today, it’ll be a morning soccer game. For that few hours, I’ll be totally immersed by even more of a conscious decision than usual.
7/
This afternoon, when he’s off playing PS4, I’m going to take a shitload of pictures of birds in my yard - not because I need more pics of cardinals but because I need the salve of compartmentalized moments that refresh.
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If you’ve never been ground down to a paste by prolonged stress and hardship, take my word for it on this...
You will endure far more successfully if you consciously feed your soul with moments of fully present happiness - even if you have to force yourself.
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Not sure who needed to hear this but I hope there is someone who it helps.
I hope there is someone who takes this advice borne of experience.
I hope there is someone who will get out this weekend and carve out those moments; and I hope they’ll let me know.
//
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…which contributed to 20 players bolting for other teams or the NFL
And then, having shot itself in only one foot, FSU picked an expensive, losing legal battle with its own league… while alienating their best remaining quarterback - which made him decide he’s done there.
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Now, FSU has managed to put itself in a position where, after making a national spectacle of itself, it has to go up against an actual powerhouse Georgia team with what’s left of its own disintegrating team.
FSU threw such an epic tantrum, it ensured high ratings…
3/
On the morning of 9/11, a casual friend of mine was on a high floor of the World Trade Center above where the first plane struck. He called another friend of ours to tell him he was trapped and it didn’t look good. He didn’t make it out.
There is a 9/11 memorial near me…
1/
It has the names of everyone who perished on 9/11 etched in marble.
The memorials sits high on a ridge with sweeping views toward New York City twelve miles east.
It’s a beautiful spot. I used to park there at sunrise with my son when he was a baby.
2/
Every time I visit the place, I walk the wall and find Tommy’s name.
We were only lightly acquainted. Our circles overlapped but our worlds only overlapped one weekend a year up in Saratoga.
Still, I look for his name as a duty of remembrance.
3/
So, I’m in a notorious mob hangout today. An Italian-sounding place. Panera. And there are two older guys about 5 feet away. Straight in front of me.
It isn’t entirely unheard of in my area to cross paths with some goodfellas. I live in Sopranos Country. It ain’t fiction.
1/
So, I’m trying to write but my table is facing theirs and I can’t help but overhear (mostly because I was eavesdropping, but still) and these two guys are talking about “The Chin” which I cleverly deduced was Vinnie “The Chin” Gigante from having watched quite a bit of cable.
2/
And then they roll on to talking about somebody who was low-level loansharking and another guy who something something I don’t know.
And then the one guy says “That’s all Gambino now…”
And I’m pretty much feeling like I’m wearing a wire at this point.
3/
I entirely understand people’s beef with “Do Something” Twitter.
However, there is a difference between screaming “DO SOMETHING” and agitating for our federal government to do *some specific thing*.
When we need something specific to be done and it isn’t being done, telling the people pushing for it to shut up isn’t being anti-‘Do Something Twitter’.
It’s being pro Do Nothing Government. It is literally working against our own interests.