I feel like I’m always starting posts with a line about being busy and stressed and blah de blah de blah. Well, life has been really hectic this year. I tweeted yesterday about feeling spiritually suffocated. During these times, I feel so disconnected. It’s so easy to become depressed in a mire of uninteresting books, reports, and obligations. Add crushing student loans and high rent to the equation, and it makes me want to escape into Netflix or a book most nights.
Yesterday was good, though. I got to sleep in for a little, then had a bit of me time after work. I used it to go into the forest and make some offerings to the local spirits. It was a gorgeous day – strikingly warm compared to the bitter chill from earlier in the week. I made offerings to the spirits and picked up some litter. I smiled at the green pushing up through the brown earth and the red buds on trees. I delighted in the song of birds. It felt wonderful. (Still no resins to collect…)
In the evening I stepped onto the patio to observe the lovely full moon. I actually raised my hands in the air, shut my eyes, and stretched up to that silver wheel. It felt as if a little charge ran through me and I was ready for another, stressful day.
To be true, today was stressful – but I survived and enjoyed a delicious meal at a favorite restaurant with my husband. When life hands us lemons, we tend to treat ourselves to dinner. It’s how we roll. And whenever I eat, even when stressed, I pray thanks to the spirits.
Little things like that – me time, time to connect, time to slow down – they get me through the rough patches.
Author M. A. Phillips 