I was going to quit doing this today. I had a post written in my head about how ten weeks of it was enough and it was a nice thing to do and got me into the practice of looking for joy. But that’s not true, because if I am not held accountable like I am with this weekly column, I just won’t do it. I won’t bother to look for the joy.
This particular week was not a good one. I found out my “sprained ankle” is actually a fractured tibia. I am hobbling around on crutches and I am wearing a boot, which is heavy and awkward and makes sleeping almost impossible. I had to take another week off work after just coming back from a two month medical leave. I am out of sick time. It’s July and I hate July. I went to a wake for a cousin who was younger than me. Twitter - the place where I promote this newsletter - is imploding, dying.
I decided this was no week to give up looking for joy or writing about it. There had to be something. What made me feel good? What made me smile or laugh or feel warm inside? Well, my hydrangeas are blooming, and I got my deluxe edition of Little Feat’s Dixie Chicken in the mail. And some online pals came through in a crisis, which was nice. So there was joy, there was some happiness. It makes me feel better to realize that the week wasn’t all physical pain and mental distress.
There is a big reason I got through this week intact. And I’d just like to give a shout out to the one thing I can rely on to keep me from having a nervous breakdown over everything.
We all have to do what we need to do in order to cope. I’m coping. With a little help, but I’m coping. In addition to the above gummies, writing this all out every week has been very helpful so despite my morning thoughts of giving it up, I am going to keep going.
I hope you all had a great week, or at least one better than mine. I have a couple of good newsletter ideas for this week, so stay tuned and be well.
That ankle thing sucks. Sorry to hear that. I’m glad you wrote the column today, though, because while I’m not having a particularly rough time, the thing I get most from your weekly joy column is the reminder to look for it. Twitter was always about to implode. You must know someone with a Bluesky invite code. (Send them my way if you know someone with codes to burn. I’m like 8trillion in the queue!) And music! There’s always music!
Keep looking sister💪❤️