Recapping the Last 18 Months, Agitation and Soothing of the Mind, The Lunatic Fringe

“What can you do, thought Winston, against the lunatic who is more intelligent than yourself, who gives your arguments a fair hearing and then simply persists in his lunacy?”
— George Orwell 

Good morning, how did you sleep?  We both slept great, 9 hours in total; we never woke up; sleep is a treasure we enjoy as we get a little older.  I have found that reading before bed is calming to my mind; instead of watching a show, you might want to crack a book and let the words work like a natural sleep aid.  I’ve known this for years, but sometimes I get stubborn and get into a rut; careful with ruts, they can limit your life experience.

Last night, I looked at my calendar; I saw where I would be at a fundraiser this morning in Carmel, Indiana.  It started at 7:00 or so; I thought about my morning and figured to get my work done, I would need to be up at 4:00 a.m.  I didn’t want to get up at 4:00 a.m., I have, I do, but last night, I thought, I want to sleep in a little.  So I texted my friend who leads the nonprofit and said I’ll send money, but I’m not getting up at 4:00.  He understood.  I’ll send him some money and enjoy my lazy morning with my wife.

I slept in until 7:00; our dog is pretty good at sleeping until 7:00, then she gets up, and I must let her out.  I then make coffee, sit down in my magical purple writing chair and start throwing down words that come to mind.  My wife will join me at about 7:15; we both grab a coffee; she is on her laptop, I’m on mine, this is how most days now start.

There was a time in my life where I was out of the house by 6:00 most days, many days I had a 7:00 or 7:30 a.m. meeting, I would start my day and then roll until 5:00 or 6:00 p.m., it was a good life, a fun life, but the life of a younger man.  At my age, I factor in traffic, wake time, my morning “rut” or routine that I am now very strict, I rarely set up any appointments before 8:00, most days starting my work at 10:00 a.m.  

I noticed something the other day when pursuing social media; for the record, social media is not on my phone, only on my laptop; when I get a few moments, I’ll scroll through, but unlike in times past, I spend only about 30 minutes a day looking at social media. My only applications are Facebook and Twitter; the rest have been deleted; I don’t have time anymore for the silliness, but I still have that need to keep in the know.

As I was scrolling Twitter, I noticed one of my acquittances tweeting that he was at the movie and was unsure he would like it. So I thought, why not put down your phone and immerse yourself in the film instead of feeling the world cares what you are doing and your personal view of the theatrical production you just dropped $20.00 to see?  I use social media as a news resource; I can start there and then link to articles that pique my interest.  I know I’m being fed certain things via the algorithm, but I find the news occasionally agitates or soothes my mind.

Let’s back up a few sentences; I shared that the person on Twitter “feels the world cares what he is doing.” Is that a little hypocritical from a man that writes a daily word soup about his life experience?  Maybe, but this is not for the masses; these words are for my future self and family.  I have it in my mind that a future generation, maybe my great-great-granddaughter, will take an interest in her family, find this bevy of content and use it to help her understand these times.  

So how much content have I  created?  I know I’ve been writing since 2008, maybe before, but that is the year I’m sure I was writing; that was the year I divorced.  I don’t think I was penning my thoughts daily, maybe a few times a week, but let’s say that on January 1st of 2008, I started my daily 1000 word bowls of soup. 2008 t0 2021 is 13 years.  13 years times 365 days is 4,745.  Let’s use a 95% factor; I would guess I write 99% of all days, but let’s be conservative (trigger alert); that’s over 4500 daily blogs and 4.5 million words that one can sift through to find some wisdom.

I’m not a great writer; I’m a good writer, I know my place, I’ll never win an award, I’m not attempting to sell millions of books. I am a simple man with a simple plan of sharing his daily life experience in the hope that a future person can use this to make sense of these times.  Did anyone write daily through the 1918 pandemic?  Did we have a road map?  We now have a daily blow by blow of a man and family that got the news of 14 days to slow the spread?

What did we learn?  We learned that our government could not make sound decisions for the people weighing a once-in-a-lifetime event’s economic and health factors. Second, we learned that a division would form between people who follow misguided guidance and those who question authority by nature.  One would think something like an outside force attacked; it would bring us together, but instead learned that we need to pick a side. Third, we learned that anything and everything could be politicized.  There have been some lessons learned, some good, some bad, but one can take from this experience a game plan on managing a virus that seemed to favor those unhealthy folks living amongst us.

There are exceptions; my friend Patrick is one of the fittest people I know, the virus attacked him, he’s still not back to normal, it’s been months, he’s fighting the good fight, but I think he is an outlier. However, it seemed the vast majority of those killed or severely injured had other health issues that helped the virus debilitate and extinguish their life force. So a central question that came to light is how much freedom are you willing to give up to live, and shat is one’s duty to protect others?

The past 18 months have been a subtle reminder to take care of yourself, move much, eat well, limit your excesses and try and be kind to all even when they are acting like raging lunatics.  The pandemic has allowed all to see others’ true colors, and I think that might be one gift among many.  Logic and common sense seem to be at a premium these days, as is the ability to lose one’s mind and shout down someone that disobeys their stated or interpretation of the “rules.”

“What can you do, thought Winston, against the lunatic who is more intelligent than yourself, who gives your arguments a fair hearing and then simply persists in his lunacy?”
— George Orwell