What Harry Potter teaches about loneliness – A blog about a podcast about a book

I love the Harry Potter series. I love to read. I love Hermione being a badass. I love magic. I love the JK Rowling story. I read each book as they came out back in the day. Then I discovered Jim Dale, one of the two best narrators in the history of audiobooks. I listened to all of the books and loved them all over again. I read the first book out loud with The Boy when he was in 4th grade in an effort to try to engage him in reading. We powered through, then let’s just say the wheels fell off when he realized we were going to do all seven. We quit. I cried. 

Now I have found the podcast “Harry Potter and the Sacred Text“. Sure it has been out for three years, but I have never been known as an early adopter. When I was a teenager, I never jumped on a trend until it was out of style and impossible to find in a store. Harry and the gang don’t mind though, they are still there for me. I borrowed the first couple books from my sister and got started. 

Harry Potter and the Sacred Text Sorcerer's Stone

The gist of the podcast is that each episode is based on a chapter of the book. Each week they have a theme that they use to provide a context for the discussion of the characters and their shenanigans. 

It’s the English class you didn’t know you missed and the meaningful conversations you didn’t know you craved.

Harry Potter and the Sacred Text Podcast

I am loving it so much I had to bring it to my blog for a few reasons. 

  • I really want everyone who remotely was interested in Harry Potter to know this podcast is out there. 
  • Sometimes I don’t know what to write about and the themes of the chapters are inspiring me.
  • May I be so bold as to suggest that we need to talk about some of these themes more. 

This will be a bit of a meta – series. It is a blog series about a podcast about a book series. I am not going to do a post for each chapter, just the ones that resonate. And let me tell you – chapter two was a roundhouse kick to the head it resonated so much. 

Loneliness: The Vanishing Glass (Book 1, Chapter 2)

Chapter two is about loneliness. No no no – stay with me. I know many of us are not comfortable hearing about loneliness. I know many of us are not comfortable being lonely. Yet ironically we are all lonely at different times of life. But avoiding or stuffing feelings is not something that sustainable for those who strive for good mental health.

Lonely in a group

Casper, one of the podcast hosts, tells a story in this episode about going to boarding school and not fitting in. Then the episode delves into the loneliness of different characters. Harry’s loneliness is obvious. His interaction with the snake being the first connection he probably made – at age 11 – feels incredibly sad. But then they continue to talk about the Dursley’s loneliness. They only have 2 people to lean on to keep Harry when they go to the zoo. Sure their loneliness is partially self-inflicted and fear based, but the loneliness is still valid. 

There have been times in my life where I have felt lonely in a crowd as well. 

  • A varsity college athlete who lived on the honors floor of the dorm. 
  • A grad student on janitor and maintenance crews.
  • An introvert at the party. 
  • The person all in their feelings in a group of friends that wanted to keep it on the surface. 

Lonely in relationships

The conversation about the loneliness Petunia may have felt really touched a nerve with me. The podcast talks about the morning of Dudley’s birthday when he counts his gifts. The discussion is around the fact that Petunia put in all of this energy leading up to Dudley’s birthday – planning, shopping, wrapping and hiding the gifts to make his day special. Then the morning of – BAM, not good enough. Only 36 gifts. How lonely Petunia must have felt with her family at this moment. 

I have been lonely in relationships as well. This specific example of a gift giving holiday was a really hard transition for me when I became a step-mother. When I grew up the four of us took turns opening Christmas gifts slowly. Ohhhing and ahhing over each, opening it and showing it off. My first Christmas as a step-mother, the kids had just turned five and seven. Christmas morning came and they tore through all their presents and stocking stuffers in less than five minutes and were upset about what they did not get. Tears were shed – mine! It seems as though no one cared about the Christmas I wanted, they just charged forward to what they wanted. 

What I did about it

Spoiler alert – Harry does not stay with the Dursleys much longer. He gets out and goes to Hogwarts to be with other wizards. But the Dursleys continue to stay where they are, physically and emotionally. As we all know – if you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got. This has been true in my life as well. Here is how I am working to manage feelings of loneliness

  1. Feeling my feelings 

Turns out that when you shove down feelings. They will either squirt out in weird ways (I cried one morning because the turtleneck I ordered online felt gross and smelled like plastic) or unproductive ways (wall punches, anyone?). But when I take a minute to feel my feelings, they moderate and are manageable. If I come home from a terrible day at work and get in comfortable clothes, play fetch with Lucille, and breathe, I am much more able to handle “second shift.” 

When I cry for a minute or two about something I am sad about, I tell Bixby, “I am just sad right now and need a minute. I know there is nothing I can do to fix this, I didn’t cause it. I am just sad about it.” Tears clear after a moment and we move on. 

2. Managing my expectations

Let’s consider the above example of Christmas Gone Wild. Not once in the time leading up to the holiday season did I describe to my husband and kids what Christmas morning was like for me growing up. I did not share my expectation. This is certainly not to say that if I did, they would have bowed to my requests. I mean seriously – THEY WERE FIVE AND SEVEN. I had not been around five and seven year olds with a stack of gifts. They. Lose. Their. Minds. 

What I do know is that if Bixby and I had talked about this, we could have managed expectations better – I would have been able to prepare for the wrapping paper tsunami. 

3. Choosing my tribe

This one is really hard. Partly because it is just hard to make friends as a grown up. By default we go to lunch with coworkers or start a walking group with others from our church because of proximity. Over the last 5 years or so, this has become less and less acceptable to me. I do not want to be friends with women who disparage their husbands just because we have a job in common. I have no interest in being in a book club with women who only “joke” about how they disappoint their family constantly. 

I want more. Let’s talk about being gutted watching a movie because it brought up stuff we are wrestling with. I want a tribe of women in my life who don’t find it funny to feel like a failure all the time – or cover up feelings of failure with self-deprecating remarks. 

Let me tell you – it is hard to find these people. I think many of us want to be authentic, but it is scary. It feels a little like stepping off a known path – will there be solid ground underneath? Maybe not – what would it be like if there wasn’t solid ground and you did fall? It could hurt, be embarrassing, set you back. 

But I would like to suggest that while we are on the ground after our fall, we will see a different perspective. We will find different material to build the next right step. Being willing to be lonely could lead to authenticity. That authenticity may just bring the tribe we want and need. 

When was the last time you felt lonely? Do you try to stifle that? What would it be like to sit with your feelings – even if just for 60 seconds? 

By |2019-11-27T14:22:57-05:00November 28th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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Little ray of sunshine: A small attitude adjustment

Last week I was SUPER grumpy and stomping around so my people knew how grumpy I was. I turned around after picking up my work bag and saw this view. In the almost 4 years we have lived in this house, I have never noticed the sun come through the window like this until this morning when I really needed this pick me up. So I snapped this picture on a whim.

Now a better photographer would have framed the photo better instead of leaving the Instant Pot lid on the left and the janky paper towel hanging off the roll on the right. A better housekeeper would not even have the papers lying on the counter bar behind. I, however, am neither of these today.

But you know what – neither of those versions of me would have this picture. What a great reminder to stop, slow down and look around. Even when you are grumpy. Enjoy the small, beautiful things in the world, friends.

Morning sun on flowers
Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
By |2019-11-23T15:29:42-05:00November 23rd, 2019|Mental Well-being|1 Comment
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Following our dreams: The dream, the lies, and the truth

The Dream

I have wanted to write a book for as long as I can remember. In elementary school there was a Young Author’s contest. Let me tell you about the blood, sweat, and tears that went into my submission. Pete the Pencil was a MASTERPIECE. It had humor, alliteration, and illustrations. It had a story line of Pete’s ongoing shenanigans. It had a Gillian Flynn-esque twist (spoiler alert – PETE WAS KILLED) and the ensuing chaos. 

Child's handwriting sample

I have no idea who won, if I won, if anyone even mentioned liking it. What I do remember is creating it. Cutting the paper and choosing the artistic “sideways” (i.e. landscape) layout. Laboring over the illustrations with my box of 32 crayons cursing the fact I did not have the pimped out 64-count box with the sharpener. Rough drafts on paper so I would not mess up the illustrations with misspelled words, updated storylines (that crafty Pete was always throwing me a curve ball), or janky 8 year old handwriting. I still feel the heart swell and stomach drop of placing the finished masterpiece on my teacher’s desk. It is how I anticipate leaving The Girl at college will be next year.

I kept writing in high school. For the school paper, for the yearbook. In pages-long heart wrenching missives to my closest friend and boys who broke my heart. It was before the time of email, social media and apps that make all that heartache disappear 15 seconds after opening the message. Thank God, because those were also masterpieces. Artistic works of teenage heartbreak. How do I know? I also wrote drafts of those, many of which I found in notebooks years later when my parents moved and started turning over boxes of “treasures.” I am sure you have some of these boxes too – baby teeth, a Cabbage Patch kid, teenage heartbreak letters and dried Homecoming flowers. Oh the angst packed into a sturdy Jim Beam box!

dried flowers
Source: The Dried Flower Shop

As part of my career I have written newsletter articles, technical instructions, and corporate C-level communications. I like words. I love words! And I always wanted to share my words with others. The list of people I had shared this goal with was very short: my sister and my husband. At one point I let a co-worker friend in on this secret goal I had to write a book.  But that was about it. No plans. No actions.

The Lies

It was easy to put off inquires from Bixby. I would be lamenting the lack of creative pursuits in my life and he would supportively ask, “What about writing? You want to write a book – how is that coming along? How can we make that happen for you?”

And oh, reader I would tell him how that was happening, yes I would. I would explain that after I did EVERYTHING for him and the kids ALL DAY LONG and repeated the process EVERY SINGLE DAY, the last thing I had energy for was to think about writing a book. Perhaps if I had HELP around here, I would have realized my lifelong dream a LONG TIME AGO. They were crushing my dreams. 

Ahem. The memory of this is so uncomfortable I want to scoot my chair away from myself.

It is so easy to blame other people for where we fall short. To hide behind our martyrdom. To use excuses that are not even true as the reasons we have not braved being vulnerable and pursuing dreams and goals. I mean real talk – let’s debunk these lies I was telling about My People blocking my book writing. 

Lie #1 – I did EVERYTHING

False. Paul cooks dinner, I don’t. He walks the dog every morning, sometimes I tag along. 

Lie #2 – ALL DAY LONG

False. I go to bed before everyone else so Paul often fields homework, signature, and crazy last minute requests. The kids are teenagers so the truth is they rarely come out of their rooms so there is no risk of them needing anything all day long. 

Lie #3 – EVERY SINGLE DAY

False. We share custody of the kids so they are not even in our house EVERY day. 

Hyperbole so easily aids in the drama and fear. And that drama and fear keeps us in our ruts and patterns. Then a decade goes by and nothing has happened. If nothing changes, nothing changes. 

The Truth

I left the job where I worked with the person that held my authorship secret goal, and we recently connected over lunch to catch up. I was carrying on about wanting more, desiring creativity – I wanted to write a book even!

“Yes!” she said, “I remember you saying that 10 years ago.” 

Ooof. She did not mean it unkindly, she is Candadian – they are never unkind. But she is a truth teller. And boy I needed to hear that truth. It was definitely kinder than my high school basketball coach’s “encouragement” when I was indecisive: “Shit or get off the pot, Susan!” But it still packed a punch. 

Julie’s words have haunted me since. Haunted me into action. Since that fateful chat, I have:

  • Started this blog
  • Written about things more personal than someone else’s mediocre book.
  • Put up money to join an online writing community
  • Scheduled writing days into the calendar and honored that writing time

Time is going to pass whether I am writing or not. Am I willing to let another 10 years go by having a desire out there and not fill it? No, I am not.

What about you? What goals are you sitting with? Do you have a truth teller in your camp that can help you get moving? Why do you think you have not taken the first step?

By |2019-11-13T06:18:08-05:00November 13th, 2019|Mental Well-being|1 Comment
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The Posture of Creating

I am a failed Artist’s Way student. I had been faithfully doing my Morning Pages and Artist’s Dates for the 90 days as part of a book study earlier in 2019. I continued my stream-of-consciousness writing for a few months more while the Artist’s Dates fell by the wayside. Then the Universe threw a giant wrench into my Day Job wheel. Work days got long and complicated. I quit Morning Pages because I “did not have time.” And I did feel like a failure. I felt like I was letting down the creative me that had been on a huge winning streak this spring.

But alas, the theme this summer was Survival Mode. Intense schedule in my Day Job and family travel shoved my creativity aside like the dead grandmother in the Vacation movie. I still puttered around with quilting but even that was about finishing projects I started rather than immersing myself in creativity. Nothing was getting traction.

Around Labor Day my Day Job shifted into a different season. I moved out of Survival Mode and noodled with the idea of recommitting to Creative Me. The Creative Me that the universe intends me to be.

Recommitting to Creative Me

While I did recommit, I took careful consideration to learn from my earlier mistakes. I did not jump headfirst back in for a couple reasons.

1 – Learn from Young Susan

I spent my teens (and 20’s if I am honest) hoping my love interest would notice me and want to spend time with me. Pining away and waiting. Making myself available “just in case.” My heart hurts for Young Susan, and I am working my ass off with a therapist to heal her.

So the last thing I want is treat my Creative Me like careless crushees treated Young Susan by only visiting when it was convenient. I want to carve out time for my creativity, not make it live in the cracks. I want to feed my creativity, not fuel it with cast off crumbs. Which leads us to the second hesitation I had about recommitting without being mindful.

2 – Learn from Overcommitting

Time management is my jam, Bending time to fit the will of my to do list is my super power. Until a round house wallop of reality kryptonite knocks me on my arse. Around here we call it, “Ten Pounds of Shit in a Five Pound Bag.” I don’t want to rise at 4:30 am to write / meditate / journal / create only to be a uselessly exhausted zombie by lunch and tearing my people’s heads off by dinner. I want a morning routine like it seems everyone does these days, but none of my days look the same.

  • Some days the kids are at our house, some days they are at their mom’s.
  • I have meetings and deliverables jam packing some days; I have days filled with giant, wide open swaths of time.
  • Some days I work from my home office, some days I work onsite at various office locations. Some days I do both in one day.

3 – Learn from Past Success

Turns out there is a part of my own brain that is manufacturing the kryptonite that is kicking my ass. Its like the call is coming from inside the house. My kryptonite is rigidity. I strongly believe that anything can be broken down into small, repeatable tasks. It is the consistent repetition of these tasks that makes for success. For example, years ago I had a Day Job where I managed vendor relationships. These vendors were (naturally) super upset about outstanding invoices over a year old. I spent a week or so getting my arms around the problem. Then I set up systems where on a regular basis I would check on each stage of the process:

  • 1 hour Mondays to see if projects completed last week and invoices were released in the system.
  • 1 hour Tuesdays to add new issues to research or close out resolved issues. This also gave the vendor a cue to send me the list by end of day Monday.
  • 1 hour Thursdays to confirm checks went out as expected.
  • 1 hour Friday to submit report to my manager about the progress.

I generally scheduled these sorts of tasks for unpopular meeting times – like 8:00 am or 4:00 pm. Unpopular time means it is unlikely to be scheduled over. The key is to actually DO the task when it pops up on the calendar. PS – yes, I know I skipped Wednesdays. Once the list of 200+ issues was wrangled into repeatable tasks, it was easy to maintain in 4 hours/week. Often it did not even require the whole hour on that dedicated day. And I want a morning routine that is similarly time boxed to the Nth degree.

4 – Learn from Failure

My rigidity was killing that plan. Let’s use an example where I had to be in the office at 7:00 am and the location for the day was an hour away. There was no margin for the time box of “Morning Page – 6:00 to 6:30 am.” Or another day where I set my writing window between 7:00 am – 8:30 am but it was a day the kids were at our house. It’s a non-starter to try to write while there is chaos of them getting out the door to school. Yes, they’re old enough to take care of themselves, but there is the bickering, loud music, and last minute panic when homework won’t print that can interrupt the writing flow.

My rigidity was telling me a morning routine was impossible for me. Creativity just wasn’t in the cards for me right now. So I threw the baby out with the bathwater. {really, where did that phrase come from?!}

5 – Learn to Adapt and Adjust

I was contemplating my rigidity over about 6 weeks this fall. During that time, I was carrying on with the rest of life, which includes a weekly hot yoga class. The instructor mentions the “intention of the posture.” I always appreciate this because seriously, I cannot imagine a world where my body actually lifts off the ground or bends like that in some of these postures. But in my mind’s eye it does. And to my mind it matters! Then in my writers group, someone mentioned the posture of a “real writer” because we are a group filled with writers who have imposter syndrome. It is not really “fake it til you make it”, but more like: If you want to be something, act like it.

And the number one thing you have to act on if you want to be a writer… WRITING. The number one thing you have to act on if you want to be creative… CREATE. At the risk of filling this post with pithy sayings to stitch on a pillow:

Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Or if you prefer its casual country cousin: Don’t trip over a dollar trying to get to a nickel.

What Commitment Looks Like

So I began again. I got up when the alarm went off instead of falling back to sleep for 30 minutes. I left my phone alone instead of scrolling social media for 30 minutes. I got up and went to my office and did Morning Pages, meditated, and my PT stretches. And Bixby and I still made it out the door for the dog walk at our usual time. I was feeling proud of myself for sure. Then I did my daily reading. I felt the Universe was proud of me too when I read this at the end of the passage:

The direction of the mind is more important than its progress.

Joseph Joubert

It was like the Universe shed light on the path to confirm that I was going in the right direction. And I find the more often I tap into creativity, the more often these rays of light show through the dark.

Are you wrestling with a question or decision? Could you be resisting the faint light that you see on the path just because it’s not a flood light illuminating the dark, scary corners? Use the comments below to acknowledge it and shed some light on it.

By |2019-10-30T07:04:05-04:00November 7th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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Getting My Chi Straight

Sunshine through fall trees

Holy God I was emotional Sunday. At one point I was working on the online grocery order and about burst into tears. Not sure what was happening. Grocery prices weren’t that high.

I tried my usual cures – reading, crafting, getting shit done, cleaning, organizing. Zilch. I told Bixby to get his hiking shoes and the dog and we hit the trail. Five miles later I did not feel like ripping off my skin.

I think it was part endorphins from exercise. I think it was part Vitamin D from sunshine. I think it was part watching Lucille have the time of her life fetching sticks and swimming. All I know is it helped get my chi straight.

How do you pull yourself out of bad moods? What is your go to mood booster?

By |2019-11-03T19:43:09-05:00November 4th, 2019|Health & Fitness, Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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What We Talk About When We Talk About My Ponytail

My ponytail is a permanent fixture that I will not be giving up anytime soon. I have had a love / hate relationship with it for decades. It has caused me literal pain, and I have had it cut off in desperate times. Sometimes I have worn a ponytail so much that when I finally take out the ponytail holder, my hair stays back. I have been grateful for my ponytail when I have hit the snooze button too many times and am running late. But it is more than a hairstyle and as I turned the corner into mid-40’s this year, I have really begun to absorb the full impact of what my ponytail really means to me.

There are several things we are talking about when we talk about my ponytail.

  • I am talking about where I choose to spend my time. Spoiler alert – I do not like to spend my time doing my hair. Honestly, I don’t even really want to brush it every day. So sometimes I don’t. Don’t get me started on washing it. Sometimes between how long it takes to dry and the fact that I am a sweat hog, it feels like my super thick hair does not fully dry between May and October. So to undertake a wash which requires blowdrying is sometimes more than I can stomach.
  • I am talking about doing what I am good at. And newsflash – it ain’t hair. And don’t tell me I just need to practice with it. I am not a girl who wants to practice with any beauty products. I do not want to “get good” at blowing out my hair. I just don’t give a shit about it. And I am done spending my free time doing things I don’t give a shit about. This is where Sustainable Sue asks the important question: Is this something you could do the rest of your life? And perhaps the more valuable question: is this something you WANT to do for the rest of your life? Part of what sustainability means to me is filling my time with activities that boost my soul. And never once have I felt calm and fulfilled when using a round brush. In fact, I threw out my round brush once I cut it out of my tangle of knotted hair.
  • I am talking about expectations. Specifically not spending time doing something just to meet the expectations of anyone else. I am a recovering people pleaser. I have a visceral response to thoughts of failing every hair dresser I have been to because I show up with my hair in a ponytail. No matter what the hair length or style, I come to my appointment in a pony tail. I feel like a failure because I have not maintained the look they gave me. A part of me feels like I need to get a blow out to go get my hair cut. But then I would be cheating on my hair dresser, and that would also hurt her feelings. It’s exhausting. Let me tell you what a mentor said to me about being a people pleaser, “OK, great Susan. Now where are all the pleased people?” Ouch.

Perhaps the more valuable question:

Is this something you WANT to do for the rest of your life?

  • I am talking about being comfortable. I have reached an age where I ditch the work heels for Danskos. I quit being so damn cold and just bundle up in a coat, hat, scarf, and mittens instead of looking cute when I’m outside. I just want to be comfortable, and my ponytail supports that. It understands me. It helps me look professional when I pull it into a low pony for the office. It just gets outta the way when it migrates to the top of my head to garden. Being comfortable is also a part of what makes me beautiful.
  • I am talking about feeling beautiful. My hair does not define my femininity, nor make me beautiful. I listened to the This is Us Too podcast episode from Oct 4, 2019, when Mary talked about the time she cut her hair off. Her husband compared her long-haired before to Idina Menzel and her pixie cut after to Hugh Grant. Honestly, this pissed me off. Having long perfectly styled long hair does not make me beautiful any more than having short hair makes me ugly. When I am comfortable, I am sure I come across more confident. When I am not fidgeting with my hair I can focus on things like the actual conversation we are having.
Notice the dents in my hair where I took out the ponytail holder moments before school pictures were snapped. Not to mention the flyaway wing dings and cowlicks.
  • I am talking about doing hard things. I remember being in early elementary school when my mom decided I would be doing my own hair going forward. Trying to pull a ponytail holder through my rats nest and loop it around to secure my mop made it feel like my hands were not coordinating with my brain. But I did it. And I got better at it. I hear some of you saying, “See, you DID practice.” No, this was necessity. No way was I going to school with my hair down – especially if it was a PE day! No way was my mom doing it for me – that baton had been handed off. Those first few weeks were rough, yo. Lumpy bubbles of hair snarls. Escaped sections falling down or never making it into the pony tail holder. But I did it. Like I tell my kids – just because something is hard doesn’t mean we don’t do it.
  • I am talking about my style. I went through a stage where I needed to have a “grown up” hairstyle. At the time I felt that because I had the same pony tail as I did when I was in elementary school, I was presenting myself as immature. So I had it cut off. Short. Like by a lady who worked in a barber shop. She only did men’s hair. And mine. This was “professional and grown up Susan” – or so I thought. When I interviewed for a job with that cut, someone later told me that I “looked very severe, like a Scandinavian prison matron.” I don’t want to present myself to the world as severe and unapproachable. Now I see lots of women my age and older who wear a pony tail on the regular. I don’t think any less of them. Some are incredibly accomplished professionals. Some have all gray or stark white ponytails. The common thread is that they are comfortable in their own skin. And if we go back to the Sustainable Sue litmus test: is this something you WANT to do for the rest of your life? The answer would be a resounding HELL YEAH!

But there is one thing we are not talking about when we talk about my ponytail.

More importantly, there are things my ponytail cannot do. I mean seriously – it is just HAIR!

  • My hair does not speak for me. I went through a period of life where I felt like I was invisible to the people around me. I was really struggling and would make jokes about my struggle, but no one really saw me, including my husband. So I decided to have my hair cut off to shock him into noticing. He did not comment. Not even to say he hated it. Needless to say that did not help me feel understood. And I reached a tipping point where I did not want that despair to be something I felt for the rest of my life. It was unsustainable for me. Turns out I had to actually tell him how I felt instead of having my hair communicate for me.

What are you doing (or not doing) because of the expectations of others? What answer does your heart and gut give you if you ask, “is this something I WANT to do for the rest of my life?“

By |2020-06-17T17:19:00-04:00October 30th, 2019|Health & Fitness, Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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So, About Those Missing Book Reviews…

Many of you have asked me about when the next book report is coming out. Or why I stopped posting about what I was reading. Or if I am ok because it is not like me to not read.

I am marking myself safe from non-reading. I have slowed my pace somewhat this fall, but it is nothing terrible. I have felt drawn to check out less into someone else’s creativity and check in more with my own creativity. Let me translate for those less woo woo in the audience. What this practically means is that at the literal end of the day (vs. the corporate “at the end of the day, Bob” that makes me want to barf when I hear it), I do my own creating. I have been working on sewing and sowing. I have been writing and riding. I have been reconnecting with things that put wind in my sails. That is the point of this blog – to look at what makes life sustainable.

Because let’s face it, the daily grind is not sustainable. Not to me. It is like having an itch right in the middle of your back. Or like a stain on the carpet that you pass a zillion times a day but never clean it even though it pulls a thread from your soul when you pass it. I think the phrase is, “Death by 1,000 cuts.”

Oh, I am still reading, but I have taken a step back from posting reviews while I considered what was filling my tank and what was not. I feel like I have done a fairly good job in the last couple years eliminating things that DRAIN my energy. I will save that for another post. But consider Lucille’s new dog pool (stay with me reader, this will match up). I bought a new pool to eliminate the drain of water from her pool. {Those of you more woo woo-inclined should insert here your analogy about water being life sustaining to complete the metaphor.} So we put water in her pool and she has a blast. No drain = plenty of water. Until evaporation takes some. Or until she is having SUCH a good time rolling around in her pool, she takes some of the water out in her fur.

Easy like Sunday morning, folks.

Energy is the same for me, and if I may be so bold reader – for you too. We use up energy throughout the day, not just calories and physical energy. Emotional, spiritual, and creative energy – that is the energy tank I speak of. We will talk about recharging physical energy through sleep another day. This post is about why you haven’t gotten any good book recs lately.

Writing about meh books does not fill my energy tank. I am sure you have noticed that I am more meh about some reviews than others. I have GUSHED about some – I am looking at you City of Girls! That is what I am going to do more of – writing about what makes me gush. Because that gush is sloshing over to fill my tank as well.

This is where it gets a little scary for me because I am going to write about more than books, Lucille, and gardening escapades. Some of you won’t like it. I am hopeful some of you will. And if I may be so bold, I think some of you are looking for something more as well. Something that fills your tank. Or maybe you need to plug the drain first. Maybe you will like what you read about what I am finding to be Sustainable Sue, and you will join in to create a Sustainable YOU.

You will soon see a newsletter and longer posts. I am going to write posts less about meh books and more about meh moments so we can learn from them. I am going to write about evidence-based practices and instinct driven ideas to create more space in my head, in my day, in my literal space.

Here is the audience participation portion of the program. I am going to ask you to play along.

  • Join my newsletter on the right side bar
  • Comment at the bottom of any blog post that resonates with you – good or bad
  • Follow me on social media
  • Share blog entries and social media posts to your friends and followers

Let’s learn together to stop getting through the day and start making a day. Let’s create a life that is sustainable and worth sustaining.

By |2020-06-17T17:36:37-04:00October 23rd, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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Bookish Humor

Use your library

Use your library, people. Seriously. At any given moment I have about 15 books on hold at the library – Kindle and audiobook. I use two different apps for this: Overdrive and Libby. They are made by the same company and there are pros and cons of each. I am less interested in that as I am having one app for Kindle books and one for audiobooks.

By |2019-12-12T19:02:27-05:00September 30th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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