Sunday, June 26, 2022

 Sunday, June 26, 2022

  

I had another good night's sleep. When I got up during the night to go to the bathroom, I went back and forth between using the walking stick and the walker, depending on my leg felt. The walking stick sometimes got in my way. I almost tripped over it.  

    Good thing I was reading Pema Chodron's When Things Fall Apart. She doesn't mess around. She tells it like it is. We have to find peace in hopelessness. We can't go running away from that feeling. A friend has a husband who drinks. He says it's the only way he can escape boredom. Boredom is that feeling of emptiness when there is nothing you have to do or be for anyone. Sometimes that's a wonderful feeling. You're alone on a beach for two hours. No one knows where you are. No one is making demands on you. Ah! But when that's a steady diet, it doesn't feel that good.

  It was not that I had nothing to do. I had the service I provided for the Step Up Tutoring program, my Reading & Writing Office hours. I play to rave reviews. I've proposed adding another hour a week. It was well-received.   I have the students I still tutor, and I could add more. I have the updates and blog, although I doubt anyone depends on them for any reason.   I do that more for my sake.

  I have done the eye exercises Scott recommended for two days now. They made a difference. My clear vision lasted longer. My eyes didn't get as tired. I hadn't even completed all the exercises. I added one or two a day out of the nineteen total. There's a short version too. I was trying for the whole deal. They should take only twelve minutes and be done twice daily, once in the morning and once before bedtime. I hope Dorothy and Cylin have similar success. All three of us have had cataract operations. That would create a limitation to their effectiveness. I'm sure it does. There are still benefits.

   I took more steps without any support today. More importantly, I felt energized. That's what I had been missing. I did some long-delayed housekeeping today. Nothing was downright filthy, but it sure needed a good wipe-down. Also, I put things away that had been sitting on the counter. It wasn't so much the cleaning that felt better; it was the vigor with which I did it. It was the first day I felt like my old self.