Unnecessary Risks
I didn’t cook Thanksgiving food today, but I prepped food so it’s ready when I feel like cooking. This is the little pumpkin I had sitting on the counter for spooky season. I felt a twinge of yikes when I cut it in half, it was my little companion, kinda like Wilson from Castaway, lol. I cooked it before it went moldy. I will make a vegan pumpkin pie with it. I also baked the sweet potatoes and chopped onions, green onions, and celery. I saved the pumpkin seeds and will roast them.
Now I have a glass jar filled with candy canes all festive where the pumpkin used to be. there’s also a disco ball and a Zing Dama light-up ball and cup toy https://zing.store/products/zing-dama. I love toys, I browse the toys section while grocery shopping sometimes.
I got to FaceTime with our daughter, it was an unexpected treat, the highlight of my day. I’m so grateful.
I’m almost finished listening to You Are a Badass. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15843166-you-are-a-badass I finished Atomic Habits https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40121378-atomic-habits during my bath. I was familiar with everything in You Are a Badass, so it was like listening to a review of personal development/spiritual principles with a humorous, casual twist. I laughed aloud a few times. It was clear, accessible, and informal. A great introduction to self-help. I’m glad I have Atomic Habits in printed form because I will likely refer to it and reread it.
It’s hard not being able to visit and be with family during these holidays, but I’d rather wait until it’s safe to travel again. I was thinking about how the virus is a potentially lethal disease that you can catch from sharing airspace with people, not only those people but every other person they’ve shared airspace with too. Like how it is with STDs, if you’re having sex with multiple people you’re also put at risk from every other person each partner is having sex with too, so your risk increases exponentially.
Except COVID 19 is more contagious and you don’t have to be intimate in order to be infected. So it doesn’t matter how careful you are if the people you spend time with or live with aren’t careful. Sharing a living space with people, like roomies, puts you at risk and you really can’t do much to control others except communicate your concerns and hope they consider you and don’t take unnecessary risks, like traveling/flying to visit family for the holidays.
The person who is a roommate yet is traveling and gathering indoors puts the other roomies at risk when they return. You have to act as if they have COVID until they get tested and then fingers crossed that it’s not a false negative. It’s gambling with others’ lives when people do not follow the recommended precautions. It’s negligent and reckless behavior to put others at risk. It’s like drunk driving or having sex without protection, why risk it?
Oh well. We’ll see what happens in the upcoming weeks. I will be concerned about loved ones until we get through the holidays. I have to let go and hope for the best.
I added some cloves to the fragrant water simmering on the stove, it smells so good. It’s warm and cozy, so thankful to be here in Colorado snuggly, safe, and peaceful, sipping on peppermint tea.
In Atomic Habits it recommends we do an annual review asking:
What went well this year?
What didn’t go so well this year?
What did I learn?
Then six months later when summer comes he says to do an integrity report answering these three questions.
What are the core values that drive my life and work?
How am I living and working with integrity now?
How can I set a higher standard in the future?
I’m hoping that we begin to see a shift by the summer so things can go well next year because this year had layers of not going so well as a universal experience for all of us. I’d say if you stayed healthy, relatively sane, and survived this year that’s a win. And we all learned more than we bargained for 🙂 And probably our values have undergone a shift as well where we all will want integrity and higher standards for the future after weathering the chaos of this year.
This Thanksgiving I’m thankful we’re alive, have food in our bellies, a roof over our heads and we get to visit virtually with our loved ones who remain safe and sound as well. I’m also thankful for the vaccines coming soon and the transition of power come January. I have renewed hope that everything will eventually be alright again. Now the song Three Little Birds is going through my head. Don’t worry, about a thing, ‘Cause every little thing, gonna be all right. Make it so.
