Last night I was up way too late scrolling for updates in the various news stories of the day.
Once I did fall asleep, all I had read leaked into my dreams and kept me a bit restless. And maybe it was right to – there is a lot going on that deserves my attention, stories and experiences to listen to and learn from, empathy to exercise, next right steps to consider…
But the minute my eyes opened this morning, I found myself picking up my phone and going right back to scrolling. Deep into the recesses of social media news, I let night bleed into morning without even a breath to notice the sun streaming in and the morning birds chirping their song.
Eventually, I clued into what I was doing. I stopped, closed the apps for a bit, and did what always centers me best – taking some time with the words of an inspiring person and seeing what they have to teach me.
Today that person was Fred Rogers.
I sat and thought a lot about the “imperishable good stuff” he describes in this quote, those fleeting moments we all have, and tried to grab onto a few of my most recent ones and take note of them.
Here are just a couple that came to mind for me:
- My boys are teaching themselves to swim better. Yesterday, one learned how to pull his head up and breathe midstroke while one did a perfect handstand at the bottom of the pool (only one he couldn’t replicate again but he will!). Their smiles and laughter are definitely the “good stuff”.
- I got my oldest an alarm clock, and the first morning it went off (and buzzed his bed bc you can’t wear hearing aids while you sleep) he ran half laughing/ half screaming from his room across the whole house. Now if that ain’t good…
- I got a poem accepted by a contest early last week. I didn’t know if I should enter, all I had was this honest and vulnerable poem written in right in the midst of a crazy and challenging year… but I took the chance and sent it in anyway. It gave me a smile on a day I really needed one – a brief twinkle of light.
So, now you! What’s your imperishable good stuff?
I have to remind myself that grief and joy, anger and excitement, darkness and light can and do exist simultaneously. And it’s okay to marinate on both.
