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Terry’s Selections
All about survival-grow where you’re planted
Yeah. The image is huge. I know. Because I wanted to make a point. Don’t I always want to make a point? Why would now be any different?
“Grow where you’re planted” is the theme of this issue's selections. We’ve all been in survival mode, and we’ve been in that state for at least a year. Some have been in survival mode for a lifetime. Here you will be informed and yes, entertained. Enjoy.
In 3 Dominant Narratives You’ve Been Conditioned to Believe — And You Need to Unmask, penned by none other than Orestis Spanos. He explains narratives deeply but clearly so as anyone can understand them. Very well written with lots of information and great insights such as this…
These narratives were so subtle. Because no one was rejecting them, they felt so real, to a point they’ve become part of our perception of the world. Nevertheless, we’re still governed by that kind of “stories”. Stories you’ve heard and seen so many times that you can’t doubt, you can’t even imagine them being invalid.
He covers such topics as The Consumerist Marketing Effect, The Hollywood’s and Disney’s Movies Relationship “Symptom”, and The Happiness Paradox. Don’t let this intimidate you. It’s “only” a five-minute read which is within Medium’s declared “sweet spot”. You can read it in its entirety by clicking here.
‘Judge not lest ye be judged,’ is the first thing that popped into my mind when I read the next title. It’s Easy To Judge An Insomniac For Not ‘Managing Their Sleep’ Until You Become One by Emma Loveday is exactly what you’d think it is, but it’s always better to see it in writing. Just like Emma and the people she writes about, I too suffer from insomnia. This in turn causes daytime sleepiness, so I inevitably ended up falling asleep during the day, no matter how hard I try to stay awake. And so the cycle goes.
Emma drives home the pain of insomnia when she says,
I’ve been a great sleeper my entire life. My ex-partner used to snore like a hog and it did not phase me. I could sleep through the worst airplane turbulence imaginable and be more upset that no-one woke me up to eat the microwave dinner.
To put it bluntly, I could have happily slept on a jagged rock and been perfectly at peace.
Fate and life decided to toss a little something to Emma, specifically, you guessed it, insomnia. You can read about her coping and surviving with this awful dis-ease here.
Taking this insomnia issue up a notch, writer Tricia Chadwick decides that instead of trying to ‘fix the problem’, she’s going to embrace it. In her The Case for Embracing Insomnia and Writing Without Distraction, she offers up that “A quiet house offers space for uninterrupted thought.” I couldn’t agree more.
Actually, I’m doing it right now.
Not only is her intro cheeky it’s spot on,
This is the accidental love story between the bad boy of nighttime, insomnia, and my newest darling, writing on Medium. I have just recently linked the pair up, and they are a great match. I’m sharing this story to assist others that may benefit from a similar love connection.
Who doesn’t love a love connection? You can read about her match made in heaven here where she encourages you to “Make your love connection.” Full of quotes and stats, this is a great read.
I couldn’t really close this out without a humor piece now, could I? I love, love, love when a story can crack me up and this did the trick. In Kate Cohen’s piece, Dear Work — Here Are My 5 Terms and Conditions for Returning to the Office, well, I think the title says it all frankly.
Kate writes an open letter to her job and lets them know in no uncertain terms that, “And no, none of them include wearing pants.” An alarming notion, delusional, feral cat, Keurig, crying during meetings, and a more ergonomic workspace aka a bed, are all things you’ll find peppered throughout this hilarious piece.
You can read Kate’s list of demands here. Best line?
The burst of dopamine I get from my boss’s dog accidentally closing their laptop and dragging it around the house almost makes me want to attend meetings. Almost.
This nugget scores a mention, “… run your face through the bathroom air dryer…” If you want the full context you’re going to have to read the story!
And there it is. How to cope with everything from insomnia to depression to COVID to *gasp* going back to work! Thanks for reading!