It’s difficult to find something to celebrate these days. Also, people are used to celebrating in person with loved ones, which spreads the coronavirus and is nothing to celebrate.
So I guess we have to practice finding something to celebrate alone.
Let’s try this: Can you find something to celebrate in today’s images?
Besides celebrating a new USA administration, a new way to see something familiar, and not having to commute to work in a blizzard, I am also celebrating this: Michael will be making potato latkes on the last night of Chanukah and serving them with sour cream AND applesauce.
Do you have something to celebrate? Celebrate that in a comment, so we can all celebrate it together with you (without making COVID more widespread).
Now it’s time for me to celebrate all the humans and cats who’ve helped me find something to celebrate on this blog every day for almost eight years, including YOU!
These days, I don’t ask myself “What could possibly go wrong?” because I know the answer might be:
every little (and big) thing one’s catastrophizing mind might think of and
other things, too.
Asking myself “What could possibly go wrong?” is not my favorite waste of time, because expected and unexpected things go wrong every minute, every hour, every day.
However, there is a way of asking that question that assumes a positive outcome. For example, what could possibly go wrong if I share all my photos from yesterday?
Yesterday, when people were putting themselves out there in a group therapy session, I put this out there on a white board in the group room:
What happens when you put yourself out there? What out there gets in the way of your putting yourself out there more?
Tonight, I’ll be putting myself out there at an Open Mic, as I debut my latest original song, “What are other people thinking about you?” I’ll be putting a keyboard out there on the stage and putting, myself, out another blog post tomorrow with a recording of that performance.
Empathy involves putting ourselves out there into other people’s shoes. What happens when I put these photos out there?
I’m putting myself out there to share that in yesterday’s therapy group, we talked about shoulds and transforming unhelpful shoulds like “I should exercise more” into “I could exercise more and I choose to do other things to sustain myself until I feel ready to exercise.”
Yesterday, when it was cold as ice, I ventured out only once, to try to start my little yellow car. The car was totally covered in ice and it took me many tries to get one of the doors open. I used the first tip in this online article — “How to Open a Frozen Shut Car Door” —and got the passenger side door open by pushing on the door first before opening it. Even though I’ve lived in New England my whole life, where the winters are as cold as ice, I’ve never heard of nor tried that method of opening a cold-as-ice car door. It warms me when a simple fix to a seemingly difficult problem works so well!
This morning, my instinct is to stay inside, because it’s cold as ice, again. However, I have to get to work by 9, so I’ll use all the methods I know — new and old — to make it on time without becoming cold as ice. Because my trip to work includes a twenty-minute walk, those methods include layering, layering, layering. Two people who are doing my therapy groups have quoted this saying about living in weather that’s cold as ice:
There is no such thing as bad weather; there is only bad clothing.
The two people who shared that quote ascribed it to different countries, both of which have winters that are cold as ice.
Because of my cold-as-ice words in this post, I now have two songs running through my warm brain (here and here on YouTube):
Takin’ care of business in this blog includes sharing my recent photos, no matter how cold it is.
What warms you when something in your life (the weather, a person, etc.) is as cold as ice? I’m warmed by
Yesterday, when I was avoiding the bad news on the 24-hour news and weather channels, I found this as I was going through old mail:
When I opened that envelope, I found two letters bearing bad news about medical issues I was dealing with in 2016. (If you want details about that bad news, see Day 1407: Enough and Day 1408: The News.)
Then, Michael, who was having fun fun fun shoveling the bad ice and snow, came inside and looked like he had bad news. Sure enough, he said, “I scratched your car while I was cleaning it off. You’re going to be mad. It’s bad.”
I did immediately get mad, because the bad news is that Michael has done that before, with my previous car. Eight years ago, he used a shovel and scratched the paint on the roof of my beloved grey Mazda. This time, he used a scraper and scratched the yellow paint on the hood of my adorable Honda Fit. I immediately delivered this news, “Never try to remove ice from the body of the car! You don’t need to! Just clean off the glass!” I think this is news to Michael because he doesn’t drive and has never owned a car.
Then, I looked at the scratches and even though they were new and bad, the good news is that I quickly stopped being mad. That’s because of all this good news:
scratches can be repaired,
Michael has a great ratio for removing ice and snow from my car without scratching it — he’s only scratched the car two out of a kashmillion times, to use the new word/number Michael made up a kashmillion years ago,
the scratches make my car and me look tougher,
you can’t see the scratches if you’re far enough away, and
Michael was neither scratched nor otherwise physically damaged while working so hard on the very bad ice and snow outside.
Yesterday, when I was doing it right with Physical Therapy for my torn rotator cuff, I right away noticed this ….
…. which was right on the top of this.
Do it right and prevent fractures, injuries, and other problems in your everyday activities.
Is that too much pressure, to be told to do it right? Is telling somebody to do it right the right way to promote acceptance and peace, especially if different people have different opinions about what’s right and how to do it right?
My opinion is that these high school students were doing it right yesterday when they were taking it to the streets, chanting “Gun Control!” and “NRA is not okay!”
The New England weather wasn’t doing winter right yesterday with record high temperatures, but that was all right with me.
Did I do it right with these other photographs?
Somebody did not do it right in that last photo.
After I do something, I wonder, “Did I do it right?” I do it right by telling myself I did it well enough and then think about how I could do it better the next time.
No offense, but do cats — modern or otherwise — really need a lifestyle magazine?
I don’t want to be judgmental, but people who say “No Offense” are often offensive.
I don’t want to listen to music, but I will anyway.
I don’t want to set the world on fire, but we could all use a little warmth.
I don’t want to end this post without expressing my sincere thanks to the Ink Spots, to everyone else who helped me write this post, and — of course! — to YOU.
WINTER Storm Warning REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 PM EDT THIS AFTERNOON…
Locations: The I-95 corridor of Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Hazard types: Heavy wet snow and strong winds.
Accumulations: Snow accumulation of 6 to 12 inches.
Timing: Snow develops through 8 AM this morning and becomes heavy by mid to late morning. The snow will fall at 2 to 4 inches per hour before changing to sleet and then rain between 2 and 5 PM.
IMPACTS: The heavy wet snow and strong winds may result in tree damage and scattered power outages. Roads may become impassable with very heavy snowfall rates…near blizzard conditions for a short time and strong damaging winds. Travel is not recommended.
Winds: Northeast 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 60 mph.
Visibilities: One quarter mile or less at times.
In order to weather this weather, I’m not reporting to work today. Instead, I’ll weather whatever weather there is on Friday and work that day instead.
My internal weather report, here and now:
I’m weathering whatever weather there is, whether or not I feel strong, ready, or brave.
What’s the weather report where you are?
Here’s my pictorial weather report for the day:
How’s your internal weather, after that pictorial report?
Last night, people in my therapy group (who do not piss me off) were pissed off about several things, including the weather, politics, useless meetings, insensitive people, pain, greed, and technology that doesn’t work right. As a result, we made lists of “What Pisses You Off?”
What pisses you off?
It pisses me off when I don’t take photos of people I love, including my wonderful college roommate Marcia (who met me for dinner last night after my group).
Is there anything that pisses you off in my other photos from yesterday?
It pisses me off when people don’t express gratitude, so thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and to my readers — of course! — who never piss me off.
The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally 