Currently in May

Feeling… emotional, sad, frustrated, upset, anxious. Two mass shootings within 10 days of each other, one in a grocery store and one in an elementary school, places where we should be able to feel safe. The right to abortion being taken away and draconian abortion laws being put in place. A war that’s still raging in Ukraine. And let’s not forget: climate change, inflation, and rising Covid cases. The world is heavy right now. Or maybe it’s always been heavy and we’re just more attuned to the heaviness thanks to those tiny computers we carry around and ding at us with every breaking news alert.

Watching… Ted Lasso. I’m a few episodes into season 2 and I am loving it. It’s delightful and funny and also very poignant, and exactly what I need right now. Last week, I had a dream that I was dating Roy Kent (not the actor, the fictional soccer player) and was that ever a disappointment to wake up from. Anyway, do yourself a favor and watch this show if you haven’t.

Listening to… Body Stuff with Dr. Jen Gunter. Curious if we really need to be drinking 8 cups of water a day? Does milk really build strong bones? Have you ever wanted to listen to a doctor spend 31 minutes talking about poop? Well, do I have the podcast for you! Body Stuff with Dr. Jen Gunter has been a new favorite listen (and it’s relatively new, so you can get caught up on the backlist pretty quickly!) because I am just fascinated by the body and how it works. Dr. Gunter debunks common medical myths, interviews doctors to get the real truth, and does it all in a light-hearted way. Give it a listen!

Grateful… that Mikaela and I get to do our writing dates again. We meet at Starbucks every Saturday morning. She works on her creative project and I usually spend my time working on podcast outlines or blog posts. Mikaela comes with Eleni who is getting bigger and chunkier as the weeks go by, and one week, my mom came by to snuggle Eleni while we worked. She held her for a solid hour and a half, which allowed Mikaela to get a lot of work done. I love these writing dates with Mikaela—mostly because we spend a lot of our time chit-chatting!—and I am so glad we’re back in action.

Anticipating… my vacation next week! I can’t believe it’s almost here. We started planning this trip so long ago and I’m looking forward to spending a week on vacation with my mom. Plus, the weather looks like it’s going to be insanely gorgeous with highs in the low 70s. !!! We’re planning on spending a day in Toronto, two days at Niagara Falls, a day in a small town called Niagara-on-the-Lake, and a day in Buffalo. I’ve planned out a very detailed itinerary that leaves room for afternoon naps almost every day because that’s just the way we like to do things. Next Wednesday can’t come soon enough!

Loathing… exercise. I think I just need to come to terms with the fact that I hate to exercise and I always will. It’s not about finding the “right” method of working out because I’ve tried everything under the sun and I will always choose to lay on the couch and read than work out. While I do feel better after I’ve worked out, I don’t feel like it has a significant effect on my mental health nor do I always feel better after a work out. “You never regret a workout?” Oh yes. Yes, I have. But I know it’s important for my overall health and so, I will continue to try to hit that 30-minute daily movement goal as much as I can and I will continue to try to find ways to make it less awful.

Struggling… to get enough sleep. I’m still averaging around 6 hours a night, according to my Sleep Cycle app, which is definitely not enough sleep for me. It’s no wonder I constantly feel tired! I am trying to get better about starting my nighttime routine at a reasonable time so that I can be finished with it and have about an hour to myself to read in bed before I need to turn out the light. I’m also working on what time I actually go to bed. There were many nights of the past few months when I didn’t get to bed until after midnight. I’ve never been a night owl, so I’m not even sure why I’ve started staying up so late these days. Now, I have a “lights out” bedtime of 11 p.m. (it was one of my May goals) and every month, I want to decrease that bedtime by 15 minutes. So, in June, my new bedtime will be 10:45. Then, in July, it will be 10:30. And so on until I’m turning out the lights by 10:00, if not earlier.

Thinking about… writing a memoir. I was really inspired by a podcast episode with Mary Laura Philpott about the memoir/essay genre, and it got some ideas churning in my head about writing my own memoir. I never thought my life was interesting enough to write about, and maybe it isn’t, but I know I have things to say about some different aspects of my life. I have two ideas I’m ruminating on: familial estrangement (I’ve been estranged from my father for over a decade) and dating/being single in my thirties. I have a lot to say about both topics, and I think I would find a lot of catharsis by writing about these topics and coming to terms with how they have affected me as a person. Who knows what I’ll do, but I’ll continue to let these ideas percolate.

Needing… a new computer, maybe. My personal computer (a PC) has been running slow for a little while now, and I’m not really sure why. I’ve done some system checkups to see if there’s something specific that is causing it to run so slowly, but haven’t been able to pinpoint a source. This PC did a lot of heavy lifting in the early days of the pandemic as I used it all day every day, from work to personal time, until we were allowed to bring our computers home from the office in October 2020. Now I just use it as my personal computer, but I can never just open it up and go. It needs at least a few minutes to gather its bearings before it can respond to any of my commands. I’ve been wanting to switch to a Chromebook for a while (I especially like the Chromebooks that can flip to become a tablet!) because I don’t really need a computer with a fancy-schmancy operating system and it might be time to think about making the switch.

Buying… pool floats and floppy hats. It’s officially summertime here in Florida and this year, I want to utilize my mom’s pool way more than I did last year. My stepdad is constantly working on the pool, too, so we should take advantage of all his hard labor, right? Ha. I bought a floppy hat from Target to protect my scalp and face when I’m outside, and also couldn’t help buying a pool float so I can relax in the pool with a beverage and my book. If we’re going to have 100+ degree days, I’m going to spend them in the pool.

Loving… my short hair! I am so glad I made the decision to chop off my hair because I am really loving the shorter style and how much easier it is to care for. It’s just so much fun to have shorter hair again, and the style and color just feels very “me.” I’m really happy I made the decision to do a big chop!

What are you currently grateful for and watching?