Detox

Last week, I resolved to be more present and to work toward radical acceptance. Which means I’m noticing and naming things. This week’s big takeaway should come as no surprise: I’m much happier when my consumption of social media is minimal.

I’d recently noticed that the time I spent online had inadvertently crept upward and set a vague intention to decrease it. And I did for the most part. Yet this week, when other things and people kept me too busy to spend much time overloading myself with input, is the first time I noticed the correlation between decreased consumption and increased happiness. Most of my days ended with a sense of calm contentment.

I know myself well enough to know that I’m not cured. There will be days when loneliness or anxiety or fatigue will have me reaching for digital comfort. But I’m hopeful that this week of detox will lay a foundation and remind me of the alternative when the siren call of distraction sounds.

Ways I Found Joy This Week

Listening to my body when it told me to get back in bed (almost never happens) as the rain poured down

Spending a morning at the Norton Museum of Art (finally), being wowed by the extent and importance of its collection and its gorgeous environment, and especially savoring Persian Sea Life (the Chihuly ceiling installation) and Chagall’s Anniversary Flowers

Hanging at the CWP’s apartment for takeout and TV

Restarting the Instagram account for my four-legged boyfriend (@crowley_chihuahua) to revisit the zillion photos in my camera roll and provide myself with a daily captioning challenge

Hosting an impromptu pool party with my beloveds on a hazy afternoon

Things I Learned This Week

That after years of taking it occasionally for seasonal allergies or allergic reactions, I am now unable to take Zyrtec unless I want to sleep for two days straight

More than I ever wanted to know about refrigerators

That since I wrote about leavingmaga.org less than a year ago, the testimonials have doubled (and those are just the people brave enough to share)

Quotes That Resonated This Week

How easily life becomes an endless postponement of itself.

Suleika Jaouad

The act of reading outside of your experience increases empathy. 

Jesmyn Ward

What I Watched This Week

Four Seasons (Netflix). Devoured Season 2 in one sitting and may have loved it even more than the first. Great cast, great mix of funny and emotional moments. Bonus points: Colman Domingo and the last two episodes being set in Italy.

Euphoria (HBO). Season 3 was over the top. I admit to being glad it’s over as my nervous system couldn’t take much more.

The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (Netflix). A solid mystery series in conjunction with BBC in which a group of high school students, led by a quietly determined “good girl”, solve murders.

Marty: Life is Short (Netflix). Loved this documentary about the life of Martin Short. Fabulous footage of his family and friends through the years, but I was most taken by his positive attitude and humility.

What I Read This Week

Notes on Grief, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The author deals with the sudden death of her father as they are separated by Covid lockdown. The same incredible writing found in her recent novel Dream Count.

Joan is Okay, by Weike Wang. Joan is a young ICU doctor in a busy New York hospital who marches to the beat of her own drum. A quietly entertaining story of personality, identity, and belonging set as

Covid makes its appearance.

On Witness and Respair, by Jesmyn Ward. Early in this book of essays written over the last ten years, the author reveals that her writing is informed by her beloved grandmother, an inveterate storyteller who told her to “tell it straight and tell it all”. And she certainly does. In addition to stories about her life, there is thought-provoking reading on a variety of social justice issues and other writers of note.

Served Him Right, by Lisa Unger. One of my favorite thriller writers. An “ex-orcism” to celebrate a breakup is interrupted with the news that the ex has been murdered. So many people had a reason, and so many people have secrets. Good twisty reveal.

Lying Beside You, by Michael Robotham. A psychological thriller in which a forensic psychologist and his young protégé (a formerly troubled teen with the gift of detecting lies) work to discover who is abducting young women in their small town.

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Thanks for reading!