Observations
There are times when my head is swirling with different thoughts. Today is one of those days. Here’s a collection of some of those observations.
Hello there.
I have some random observations and thoughts today. Nothing too intense here, or at least nothing too detailed. I’m often lost in my own world of thoughts and imagination. There are days when I have a specific idea of what I want to go in-depth about, and there are times when my head is swirling with different thoughts. Today is one of those days. Here’s a collection of some of those observations:
If social media and texting caused the real death of actual social relationships, what has the pandemic done to us? Personally, small talk has always been pretty painful, but after nearly two years of social distancing, quarantining and masking up, it’s even worse. I still crave deeper conversations that lead to enlightenment, but getting there isn’t always easy.
Speaking of things that aren’t easy, the grass is not greener on the other side unless you actually mow it and water it and cultivate it. Life is work, even when things are going well. Things in your life are probably going well because of the work you’ve put in.
We shouldn’t be afraid of the future. We don’t have to forget the past to embrace what’s ahead of us. We simply don’t need a death-grip hold on our favorite (or not-so-favorite) memories. No one enjoys change, but when we embrace the possibilities that come with reflecting on and changing our views, situations or locations, good things can happen.
Let’s be real, being a parent is the best and hardest job in the world. There’s this super fine line between enriching our kids’ lives and providing them stuff that one day they’ll have to break through with their therapist.
When people show you who they are, believe them. Trust your gut, it won’t lie to you.
The 2022 election is extremely important. There’s a war waging on the American voter. Before we get to the next presidential election, we need to make sure everyone that is eligible to vote, can vote and those who want to silence those voters, don’t prevail. Democracy means every vote is counted.
People are in a rush to go nowhere, in particular, every day. We push and claw and weave in and out of traffic just to... get there. Wherever there is. Sometimes when I’m driving I think about how we are all going somewhere and I wonder where we are all going - and why.
We do this weird thing in this country where we attach gender roles to inanimate things - food, clothing, music, art - these things don’t have genders. It’s really weird.
Men can eat salads and women love steak and potatoes, so why are we attaching strange stereotypes to these sorts of things? While we’re on the topic, careers don’t have genders either. If women can be therapists, we certainly can trust them to be clergy. Nursing isn’t just for women and engineering and architect positions aren’t held solely by men.
Seasons are great, most of them. Spring and summer are great and fall is probably my favorite, but the dread of winter here in the Midwest sort of puts a damper on my love of the autumnal period. My 5-year-old daughter loves winter though, so I’m adjusting my mentality, slightly.
Speaking of... the Weather Channel has officially become media sensationalism at its worst. I’m not even talking about hurricanes and typhoons and earthquakes that cause catastrophic damage. In the past few years, we’ve experienced "winter storm Janus" or "winter storm Maximus" or "winter storm Brutus". Really? I’m old enough to remember when we used to just call it winter.
That being said, the effects of climate change are already having devastating results. We all have to do better. The earth is not just someplace we live, it really is part of us. If there’s ever a “What do we tell our kids??” moment… imagine telling our children that we were warned about the damage we were doing to the earth and we didn’t do anything to preserve it for them.
We cannot ever give up trying. And we shouldn’t be afraid of failing or just wanting to try something new after trying something else. Try doing lots of things. How would we know what we like to do if we never, in fact, try doing different things?
Too many people are afraid to break the mold, it’s really not in our culture. I guess that’s somewhat obvious, otherwise, there would be no mold to break. My friends who are willing to stand out and follow their dreams are the people I admire the most.
I always have a lot of thoughts ruminating in my head, some I struggle to articulate. Some I think I’ll definitely remember, don’t write down and promptly forget. These I managed to get written down. Hope you enjoyed!
-JG