HIT AND NOT HIT of 2022 baby!
things that I tried and learned that might work for you, but also literally might not and that's okay!
2022 was a year
In which the months went slow, but the seasons went fast. It was a year that I did a lot of kooky bananas things! I started writing in a real way. I accidentally started a little business doing very niche cooking; for artists/events/parties, but also for people who have restrictions and certain needs, who are pre -and -postpartum, who need a specific kind of nourishment. I loved getting to zoom in. The real challenge this year was trying not to make fun of myself for being curious about ‘wellness’ and the invisible structures that push and pull to and fro as we journey through our vast little lives.
It was a full year out of traditional kitchens, which meant that I had time to fix up my body, which had begun to feel like an old jalopy. I got knee surgery and got a stomach infection and tinkered away at both in the Ol’ Shop. Waiting for the oil change to kick in (is that how it works??), I had to sit with some uncomfortable thoughts, which is always necessary -- and also terribly rude and inconvenient if you ask me!
Much of the time, I felt confused! Hopeful but lost! I like a routine and working with people, and suddenly found myself at work with neither. Trying to get things done in quiet, I unconsciously operated with the same sense of urgency that I had been so seduced by in kitchens. This was not very nice for my nervous system. Unsure of wtf I was doing with my life when I wasn’t cooking, I tried to think think think my way out of it, writing a million pitches, applying to a million jobs, trying to locate satisfaction through typing into the abyss on my computer.
The relief of clarity, when it came, felt obvious and like a whisper. There is No Right Way To Do Things. To figure that out, I had to slow down. Potentially, my ancient bod forced me to. It was annoying as hell, but I am grateful! I go into the new year feeling healed and also kind of sillier than ever, in a good way.
In the in-between times, I tried a LOT of *practices* that I figured might ameliorate my existential discomfort. I feel like we don’t talk enough about trying stuff and seeing what works and the fact that a lot of it simply does not! Or does for one person and not for another. So!
Here’s a HIT OR NOT HIT for things that I tried to adapt to my life in 2022 :)
Let’s start with NOT HIT. These things might work for you, and I hope they do! But not for me. Or I did them briefly and gave up. God bless everyone that these work for!
- Aspirational Apps. Nerva, Noom, Duolingo, whatever. I don’t like tracking steps and I don’t click on the Health part of the iPhone. There’s something about the tone of these apps that I find cloying. Very easy to abandon. Just not for me.
-CBD drinks. Unfortunately, I feel nothing.
-Texting emotions in realtime. As Dorinda says on RHONY (though, admittedly, she is not the best example to follow), “say it forget it, write it regret it.” I get the instinct to write it all out and I do think long, well-written messages can work in an epistolary way in certain situations. But short, tense text conversations can make the phone too charged a place. If it’s tender and really stressing you out, ideal to meet in person and if not, give em a ring on the phone!
-Psyllium husk. Didn’t do much for me, but I love the words together. Psyllium husk!
-Morning pages. I tried and it’s not gonna happen. I always find myself a little lost with morning routine – drink a glass of water first thing? Stretch? Coffee first? A banana perhaps? I become overstimulated and feel underprepared.
-This has always been true, but it must be said: if you cook something but your heart isn’t in it, the food is not going to taste good. Period. I don’t know why, and I don’t think I am supposed to know. It doesn’t work to cook angry. It does kind of work to cook sad. Cooking excited is good, but happy is great. At peace is what we can all hope for.
What does work for me (and might work for you but maybe not and isn’t that fun for us all!)
-Like my Grandma and Grandpa always said: Everything in Moderation, including Moderation!
-If one must take a nutritional thing, it’s best done in drinkable powder form. If there’s no flavor, it’s really not so bad. Magnesium dissolved in a glass of water at night… forces me to drink water, which I am normally not terribly inclined to do if left to my own devices.
-Astrology apps. Basic, I know, but they know a lot of stuff. I love listening to Chani’s the Week Ahead, but The Pattern is particularly uncanny.
-Alter your levels of responsibility. I.e. take care of something other than yourself when you can. Babysitting, puppysitting, driving someone, helping someone carry a stroller down the stairs, whatever. It is such a relief not to focus exclusively on oneself and so informative to see unnecessary things fall by the wayside. And when you’re responsibility is complete, you feel so much freer than before you took your task on.
-Read books that you think might seem stupid or contrived or too obvious. Even books with covers by which you are embarrassed. First of all, a lot of people read them, so you’ll be in vast company. Second, it will keep you reading when maybe you otherwise have been on a reading break. Instead of a Beach Book, think of it as a Bridge Book – bridging the gap between your reading anything (not on a screen) or not at all.
-Write down dreams. Also tell people when they were in your dream in a good way. Feels weird but nice!
-Eating exactly what one wants, when the mood strikes (within price point and practicality, of course— let’s not be unreasonable). But! If a craving has the audacity to tug at my coattails, I respect its fervent designs. If I want steak, I am not eating an Impossible Burger. If I want a cookie, I am not eating an Rx Bar. This goes both ways; sometimes, I really want the weird Maple Rx bar! No one knows why, because they really do taste weird, but so it goes. Sometimes I want wine or a martini and will have it, and sometimes I do not and will not, but I likely won’t ask for a mocktail either.
What works for me, I suppose, is the thing itself.
Okay have fun, be good, and be well! (omg I accidentally ended a Zoom call recently with the massive mouth mistake of “stay good and be careful!”. Lord have mercy.) Have fun tonight, or get a lot of sleep, or both!
Working on a little Palate Cleanse expansion in this new year, so stay tuned.
Please know that you clicking on my little emails was one of the very best things to happen to me this year. I mean it. xx