Yeah, I said bitchy -- but I really mean bitchy and thoughtful. My relentlessly bitchy and thoughtful friend's name is Girlfriend. It is how I address myself when I know better. Girlfriend, come on. Get a grip.
Said another way, this is Stacy talking to Stacy. Let's face, we all have a built-in therapist, but this would require us to listen to ourselves.
There is a consistent theme of Girlfriend and I's conversations, and it is typically focused on self-care and/or being more...versus doing more. I giggle as I write these words as I immediately think about both of my grandmas. Did they ever think about self-care? Did they talk about self-care with their friends? Did they journal about it? Did their therapists talk to them about it? Did they ever question if they were doing enough on earth? Did they focus on how they were using their strengths and if they were doing enough?
Honestly, I think if I were to share a cup of coffee with them and bring up this topic, they would have listened, smirked and probably would have said something along the lines of...Oh Love, you have too much on your hands.
I spend a lot of time reflecting on how my grandmas would have responded to modern day stresses and challenges. And I think I am right about how they would have responded to many of our modern world trials, but I think I know why.
Humans need relationships. Humans need time outdoors. Humans need movement. Humans need silence. By nature of the work that my grandmas both did, they had access to these things on the regular, without a lot of choices.
While humans need these things -- in this modern world, we often look for splendor, satisfaction and achievement in a lot of places other than these four simple places.
When I focus on human connection, spending time outdoors, moving and silence -- Girlfriend is pretty much quieted. She is tired. Her heart and lungs are full. She is happy and content. When I spend too much time inside, on my phone, working or imbibing...I am far less content, more restless and a little bitchy.
Let's refrain from being bitchy.