A Work In Progress

I can understand why unhappy people buy lots of ‘things’ to feel better.  I think, when we (as humans) become unhappy, it is our first, second and third inclination to distract ourselves from our unhappiness.  For a while we ignore it, then we eat our way through it, then we drink our way through it, then we buy our way through it, etc, etc.  And even though we are still trying to forget/dismiss the fact that we are unhappy, we are unconsciously trying to DO something about it.  Because eating/drinking/buying/etc are all ACTIONS.  So we fool ourselves into thinking we are doing something, but the only thing we are doing is eating/drinking/buying a bunch of shit that we don’t need/want anyway.

It’s very puzzling. 

It’s a beautiful day here in Alexandria and I’m sitting in my dining room with the windows open, listening to Pandora, in my bathrobe, my doggie sunbathing in the back yard and I am overwhelmed with this intense feeling of nostalgia.  Maybe it was Ben Fold’s voice singing ‘Once there was a way….to get back homeward’, maybe it’s the breeze or maybe it’s that I have a day off to clean my house and reflect as the seasons change right in front of me—I don’t know.  I just had one of those moments where I see my life in the moment that I’m living it and I realize how much I have lived up until now.  I guess Ben Fold’s doing a Beatles cover can do that to a person.

I finally picked up a fiction book.  Its title (Death Comes to Pemberley) refers to Mr. Darcy’s (from Pride and Prejudice) estate and some drama that ensues one night after a ball.  Pretty exciting stuff.  I’ll let you know how it all turns out.

I have about a 25 minute drive home from work each day and I use a lot of that alone car time to think and decompress.  Most recently I’ve been thinking about my 2012 Goal List which is as follows:

• I will be an assistant team leader at Whole Foods Market by the end of the summer. 
  
•  I will actively pursue/cultivate a yoga practice and find a teacher I trust.
• I will pay off all our credit cards and Damon and I will be debt free.  This means setting up and sticking to a budget.
•  I will purchase a musical instrument and seriously work on and enjoy learning how to play.  
•  I will explore this city and allow myself to enjoy living here.  I will learn the roads in this town.  This is a big one.  Really really big. 
•  I will talk to my friends and family once a month on Skype.
•  I will make an effort to ‘look nice’ each and every day.  I will always strive to look and feel my personal best.  (This is going to take some practice.)
• I will make an effort to eat a cleaner diet at every meal.  ‘Clean’ meaning minimally processed, simple ingredients, high in nutrients and organic when possible.

I thought it would be fun to write and share daily updates—I’ll do my best to keep it short, interesting and enlightening.  My next adventure (since I accomplished #1 last week) will be to find a place to work on my yoga practice.

I think about this blog often and how when I started it, it was a place for me to put up photos of all my travels.  I found it so relaxing and exciting—I miss that feeling—so hopefully writing about the menial frivolities of my daily life will keep me (and you!) entertained for a hot minute.

Good night.

I officially despise The Heat. My blood pressure is through the roof right now.