Community Question: What Would You Tell A Girl …?
Her name was Millie, the girl who sporadically made high school my personal nightmare.
She’d stroll carelessly through the hallway with her pack of slightly quieter friends and go out of her way to brush by me and cackle out words like “pathetic loser,” and “monster ugly” and other colloquial Kansas jibes about “breakin’ the cam’ra when you get yer pitcher taken.”
In choir, she sat behind me, and when the director would ask me to try out a solo, she’d giggle and cough and kick the bottom of my chair for extra maddening effect. Then she’d elbow her friends and they’d all boo behind their hands after I was done. While they never saw me cry or react, most of my time was spent hyperventilating while waiting for the next onslaught of snark.
I let Millie ruin a good portion of my high school experience.
We’ve probably all had a Millie in our lives, whether it was in high school or even today. That girl or woman who, no matter what kind of a mood you’re in, can eat you up and spit you out just by honing in on whatever weakness you feel in any given moment.
Feeling a little embarrassed by your slightly greasy hair (which your friends had previously told you NO ONE would notice)? There’s Millie, “Hey, girls! Check out her hair. She’s going to need some 409 to clean THAT tonight. HAHAHAHA.”
Food For Your Soul: How to Fall Apart With Grace
There is a tension belt in your head. At optimal levels, it’s stretched just tight enough to keep everything running smoothly, with a tiny bit of slack for moments of stress. The tension you feel on a daily basis – the one of smooth, effortless performance – when you prepare a nourishing breakfast to a chorus of sunrise noises or dial a phone number and have a long, heartfelt chat with a friend signifies that everything is on track and working seamlessly.
Sometimes, though, that tension belt goes into overdrive. It could be because a situation changes in big ways (like, say, you’re moving … which is where I’m at right now). Or it could be because of nothing you can identify.
Everything feels hard. Words don’t come as easily. You can see with perspective that anything could go wrong at any second, and you scramble to hold it all together as tight as you can.
The tension belt heats up.
“Hold it together,” you think. “If I can just make it through this moment, everything will be all right.”
But sometimes it won’t be. At least, not for a little bit.
Sometimes you have to fall apart.
Trust Yourself and Change the World
Let’s talk about trust.
And money.
And stuff.
In the olden days of yore, money served one purpose: To exchange your time for goods or services. It was pretty honest, you know? “Hey, Octavius, can I buy that gold filigree toga from you?” “Sure, Romulus! I need 10 gold pieces. And here’s your toga. Great to see you, bro.”
It’s not that simple these days, really. Instead of exchanging your hard-earned money for goods and services (if you’re buying mainstream), you’re exchanging your hard-earned money for promises and dreams, labels and status, and, frankly, a really tenuous sense of trust. Deep down in your heart, you know you really don’t trust that the anti-aging cream is going to make you look like a 20-year-old again. But the commercials are so pretty and shiny. And maybe a miracle will happen, just to you. Maybe.
How to Turn Your Daughters (Back) Into Witches
Traditionally witches were those folks, mostly poor &/or older women, who just didn’t fit in with their medieval neighbors. Their crimes included healing with herbs, having pets & helping birth babies. Oh, & “enchantment.”
Naturally, they needed to be killed. No need to stir up controversy in this post by suggesting otherwise.
I do submit, however, that little girls may be born witches. In a sweet, weirdo kind of way.
Synchronicities and Happy Coincidences: Have You Noticed the Magic Lately?
Claire, if you’re reading this, please continue to pay attention. You, especially, will enjoy this story.
“According to Vedanta, there are only two symptoms of enlightenment, just two indications that a transformation is taking place within you toward a higher consciousness. The first symptom is that you stop worrying. Things don’t bother you anymore. You become light-hearted and full of joy. The second symptom is that you encounter more and more meaningful coincidences in your life, more and more synchronicities. And this accelerates to the point where you actually experience the miraculous.” – Deepak Chopra
Now, I’m not even remotely claiming to be anywhere near enlightenment. That whole “chop wood, carry water” thing just sounds like a whole lot of muscle aches and blisters. Although, one time when I was 24, I meditated and saw the oneness of everything. Some people call it nirvana. I thought it meant the rest of my life would be spent in a blissful, self-actualized state.
And then I discovered Jagermeister. For the next three years.
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Crunchy Shopping!
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