Doozy and Doozie Are Both Acceptable Spellings

#the more you know

I’m the dot in the center.

Do you feel overwhelmed? 

I do. 

I’m trying to comprehend all of the things— from very big stuff like the atmosphere and temperature of our planet to pretty big stuff like hunger and violence to kinda big stuff like the decision Americans will make this fall to giant stuff like the size of my electric bill (in rising proportion to the heat index) to tiny stuff like what’s eating my kale plants or do I have an ingrown toenail. And the myriad stuff in between.

I seek that elusive balance between staying up to date on current events and looking after my mental health. It seems the only way to avoid getting mired in despair is to completely avoid the news¹. 

Spoiler alert:  I haven’t found it. That balance doesn’t exist. 

The following has become an evergreen statement: boy, this week sure has been a doozy, hasn’t it?

I can’t offer solutions, but I can give you a picture of a chicken nugget dressed for a party.

What do you do with your brain when wide awake in the middle of the night/early hours of the morning and you desperately wish you were meandering through snoozeville? Do you play the alphabet game? Or are you a worst case scenario queen? Does your brain randomizer play a montage of your cringiest moments from childhood to earlier that day? Perhaps you make to-do lists that will scatter as dawn’s rosy fingers flick them from your memory. 

Some people get brilliant! Life-changing! ideas and actually manage to keep them in their grasp. Yes, yes, keep a pen and paper beside your bed and all that.

These divine beings bursting with brilliance while the rest of us attempt to slumber are a treasure. Support them at all costs.  They are the geniuses writing your next new favorite show, or the book that will blow your mind wide open, the artists lucid-dreaming in colors you didn't think the human eye could perceive, the musicians chasing a melody in the dark, and the scientists following a trail towards a medical breakthrough.

As an artist and creative person, I can assert that more great ideas happen when I’m trying to sleep (or in the shower) than do in broad daylight. Not all of these ideas shine with such brilliance in the light of day, but even one sparkling thought can ignite a fire. 

So here’s a thought: 

The next time you find yourself wishing you were floating off in dreamland, consider the creators out there, under the same starry sky, toiling over the exact perfect phrase, word, note, brush stroke, or flick of a wrist. Picture them tweaking their inspired project to bring the highest amount of beauty, and thus joy, into the world. Send them some love then feel excited for what awaits you.

Handsome Hubby confessed over a lunch of ripe summer tomato and aged gouda on lightly toasted farmer’s market bread that when he starts to feel himself slipping into despair over the state of the world, he reminds himself of the miniature donkey who ran off and has been living with a herd of elk for five years. “It reminds me,” he said with a smear of mayo on his lip, “that not all differences are insurmountable.”

1. Fun fact: as I write this, new interesting news keeps popping up.