Posted in Blogs, Canada, Fibromyalgia

Aggressive Simplification

 

“There is no point
in using the word
‘impossible’
to describe
something
that has
clearly
happened.”
=== Douglas
                    Adams

It happened and I let it happen. Not once, twice, or thrice, but over and over again. As impossible as it seemed, I let my life, wait, “let” seems too passive, I actively  participated in the over-complication of my life.

Oh, I told myself I was simplifying. I did all the “right” things. I organized, sorted, classified, tidied, de-cluttered…tried to keep only things that sparked joy.

Yet my life felt like I was just moving round those deck chairs on the “Titanic” (there was room on the board for Jack, Rose, remember, never let go?).

Then complications, on tiny clawed feet creep, whether or not I leave them a treat…

1. First stage of grief – denial.
 In denial my life was
              that complicated.
     I had balls in the air,
  juggling like a clown;
 I like helping people laugh
   (I’m a bit of a Joker),
 but clowns wear too
much make-up,
      for my personal taste.

“Simplification” always means removing stuff, right?
Usually, but not always, sometimes it means:
adding, switching, modifying, adapting,
accommodating, changing, rethinking,
reclassifying, redistributing…a whole lot of re-ing.

2. Next, I hit a wall of pain and guilt.

Yup, those flying “Whys”  hit like me like a sock full of pennies. “Why was I so sick?” “Why couldn’t I get better?” “Why me?” “Why?”

3. Anger (Envy?) and Bargaining.
“So many people don’t appreciate: their health, their life,
the good people and things;
why do they have so much
of things they don’t appreciate?”

“Whoever may be out, let’s strike a bargain, what do you want to make this better?”

4. Depression/Reflection/Loneliness.
“I’m worthless.”
“I’m a drain.”
“I’m a burden.”
Breaks into a chorus of
“All by Myself”
while fighting
her own hand
reaching for the cookies.

5. The upward turn.
“I can do this.”
“I can find even more resources.”
“I can find more people who understand.”

“I can help myself.” “I can push even harder.” “I’m pretty amazing.”

6. Reconstruction and working through. When I said it wasn’t all about de-cluttering, it was a big part because…sigh,

I’m a fantastic bargain sniffer hunter stalker predator shopper.

Brand names for dirt cheap, price/ad matching, coupons/freebies, sales…long story short, had (insert understatement here) more stuff than I realized. More than half of the more is gone now.

Bumped up my phone plan cause counting seconds wasn’t saving my brain and I was missing stuff and things.

Got more medical resources.

Watched stuff that made me smile and think and not think and lot of giggling: “Knives Out”, “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”, “Fleabag”, “The Walking Dead”, “The Good Place”, “Virgin River”, “Lost”, “Grace and Frankie” (want to know if a veteran actor/actress is alive, watch this), “The Orville”, “Jack Ryan”, “SNL”, “Joker”, “Lost In Space”, “Spiderman: Far From Home”, “Marriage Story”, “Glitch”, “The Expanse”, and thank you kindly to Netflix for Season 2 of “You”…You know I like to watch.

Unplugged from social media more; it’s a learning curve of an addiction.

And I’m trying to blog more too (stop overthinking), here https://yadadarcyyada.com/2019/11/22/99-problems-and-fibromyalgia-is-all-of-them/ (hopefully, if life stops giving me lemons…I want chocolate!!!).

I changed internet providers. New email: darcyyada@gmail.com

Got Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to give up being Royals (sorta) and move to Canada cause we’re nice, eh (and we have Justin Trudeau and #Donutgate). https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/04/28/well-cream-you-with-our-tim-hortons-donuts-you-hosers/

7. Acceptance and hope. Now more organized, but with the understanding things pop up to:
disrupt,
disturb
and
displace
the calm
and toss things
into the chaos realm.
 

Hopefully the extra measures I have taken with my “aggressive simplification” will be enough to keep the monsters of chaos at bay.

There’s no linear path to anywhere or anything, it’s all wibbly wobbly, up and down, round and round.

Most living things grieve, in different ways. We grieve those we’ve loved and lost, friendships, connections, community, hope, opportunities, time, health, jobs, dreams…

I predict complications and chaos will continue, but instead of thinking (or overthinking it, thank goodness I never ever ever ever, did I mention ever, do that!) of it all as a catastrophe, think of it as a chance to learn.

Posted in Movies, Uncategorized

20 Movies To Avoid on a First Date

1love701. The Notebook. There’s no winner here, men will be edging to the door wanting to avoid the crying woman beside him in the theater and comparing themselves to Ryan Gosling. Your date will be all dewy-eyed and comparing you to Ryan Gosling.

2. (500) Days Of Summer. Sweet and quirky, but both of you will be thinking, hmmmm, they’re just going to break my heart, why even start this?

3. Lolita. Whole mess of discomfort and awkward conversations.

4. Saw. Any of them. Stay away from horror movies unless your date specifically says they love horror movies.

5. Knocked Up. Take a trip to a pharmacy before you see this.

6. Anything too funny – who can live up to that? Your jokes will fall flat for the rest of the night and you’ll end up repeating back the movie lines. Great way to weed out atrocious laughers though.  

7.  Marley & Me. Nothing says hot date like the death of a beloved pet.

8. Muriel’s Wedding, The Wedding Date, Monsoon Wedding, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. My Best Friend’s Wedding, Love Actually…you could be sized up for a tux while you’re getting popcorn. This goes double for Jane Austen-related films.

1love69

9. Anything too political. Could spark a lively debate or you could end up hating each other.

10. How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days. Because it’s about screwing up relationships, but mainly because it’s just kinda boring.

11. Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct, Misery, Play Misty For Me, You Belong To Me, One Hour Photo, Sleeping With the Enemy, The Crush. Anything too stalkery – your date will be looking for the exits and changing their number.

12. Anything by David Lynch. This could lead to unsettling conversations about who has tried what, with whom, and when.

13. Titanic. Too long and spoilers, it didn’t end well. This goes for: Romeo and Juliet, Blue Valentine, Blue Velvet, The Comfort of Strangers, Antichrist, American Psycho, or Shame.

1love73

14. The Break Up. Leads to long silences and not just about the poor acting.

15. War movies, specifically Holocaust related.

16. Back to the Future. Mom in love with her son. Enough said.

17. He’s Just Not That Into You. Too much chatter and suspicion.

18. Vanilla Sky. I have nothing.

19. Remember Me. Your date may not want Robert Pattinson to die and guess what? Stick with any of the Twilight films.

1say7

20.  Say Anything. Unless you have a boom box, a trench coat and are John Cusack, don’t even try this one.