Happy 7th January everyone! The day the world went mad….again. Well it is in this little corner of the planet anyway. The day, all the schools return after the Christmas break and offices and businesses crank into gear once more after the limbo of last week. The trains will be packed, the roads will be gridlocked and stress levels will begin to creep up again after the festive lull.
Many New Year resolutions will already be in tatters, others teetering on the brink. We kid ourselves that this year will be different, special but 7th January suggests otherwise. We find ourselves back exactly where we started, two weeks ago when tinsel and shiny baubles blinded us from the grim reality of the 9-5 grind. It’s back to normal. Or as normal as many of us will ever be.
Grim isn’t it? Enough to make you want to pull the covers over your head and give the crazy carousel of life a miss for another day. I know that’s how I felt when the alarm clock went off this morning. Outside, it was depressingly dark and dank. I have a doctors appointment first thing, then the dreaded commute into Belfast to be greeted by an office of in boxes and in fighting. The joy, the joy.
it’s a churning sea of insanity where the waters rise, covering the last craggy outposts of what we truly want to do with our lives. So easy to be swept away, never to be reunited with our hopes and aspirations again. We cough and splutter, desperate to keep our heads above the waves, gasping for one last breath of the life we crave so badly. Sucking the oxygen of our futures into starved, raw lungs.
It is all we have, so cling on tight. Kick and thrash if you must but survive. Get through today, that’s all that matters. Reach out and cling to something, anything as long as it gets you through the tempest. It can be a person, an event, a target, a place. Reach out and pray for strong hands to pull you above the waves and onto the slippery rocks. Safe, for now, from the numbing nausea of normalcy.
The world has gone mad….again. We are the sane. The dreamers, the idealists, the head in the clouders. They mock us as naive and misguided, but we know better. We see beyond the next bend in the road, we raise our eyes and see blue skies ahead. We strive, we survive, we feel alive. Death can wait, for seasons change and the air suddenly feels fresher. We are the sane, we are the few. We choose a different path.
How mad is your world today?
What are you doing to keep your head above the waves?
Black Thoughts 
Your writing is so refreshing! I relate to this so much. Trying not to lose myself in all the “madness”.
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Thank you very much 🙂
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Perfectly written, yet some (me) relish the back to work, back to school because it means my house and my headspace is mine once more! 😁
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Thank you Karen. Yes, Fionnuala is much the same about getting rid of us all again.
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The ‘madness’ begins tomorrow for me. Kids have an inset day today! Yay!!
How are you guys? Did you finish your book? I’ve been away from WP for so long!! Hope you’re all well.
Hayley aka Red Letters 😊
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It’s shortly after 5 Monday morning & it’s another dark day here in Buffalo … no snow again. We had snow for a little while yesterday & it even looked like it was going to stick but then the stupid sun came out & it all melted. When I woke up this morning, I thought that if we don’t get a decent snow storm soon that this is going to be the worst winter in my memory & I’m going to be 59 years old this May.
I have never seen such a sunny January. It feels like March around here. It even smells like spring. You can’t tell me that the climate isn’t changing.
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Yes, it’s all very odd. It’s very mild on this side of the Atlantic as well.
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Wow, amazing post
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Thank you 😊
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I’m hiding one more day…
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Good for you. Enjoy 😊
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Blue skies, that’s my outlook too. Keep that optimism!
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Thank you Meredith. I’m trying.
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Not that crazy today, thank God. From my office on the 11th floor (if you can call a cube with a view an office), the Sun is rising over the capitol building dome her in Denver, Colorado. Impressive sight.
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Sounds like quite the sight. I work in a windowless box 🤨
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Sleep? I finished my first book of the year!! Yay me!! But went to bed way too late and not even coffee helps. So… a nap is in order. Oh and a doctor (chiropractor) appointment!!
It’s good to have routines even though they get boring… and well. Have a good good week!
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Thank you. You too 🙂
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Loving each other while loving, teaching and raising the children makes a big difference. Don’t forget that.
Thanks for sharing these authentic thoughts. Keep up the good work. Your optimism in the midst of discouragement indicates, I think, that you will do well. And your children as well.
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Thank you very much. I hope so.
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Amen, so true brother! I am clinging to Jesus. It’s the only way I keep my head above the crashing waves. God bless you! I hope you are feeling better and have more energy now.
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Thank you Ryan 🙂
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Dealing with traffic via audiobook – makes the grind a little less crunchy. Accepted the inevitable replacement of a crown – much joy and happy dancing there. Ha! Will shortly corral a cat into a small box for shots. I tell you this much, it’s a darn sight better than where we were last year, and we can keep going.
There’s also a really beautiful realization that I’m not in a terrible, unhealthy, destructive relationship with my husband; and that he supports my setting boundaries. That alone moves mountains.
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You seem to be headed in the right direction Liz. Keep going strong 💪🏻
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My, you have lots of likes so early in the day! It was indeed excellent writing; however, I was on a downhill slide until I reached the last paragraph. Whoooo! I’m glad for the acknowledgement that there is One who will pull us out. So looking back at all the madness as you so excellently describe – thanks for the look into the world of those with no hope. 😀
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Thank you Oneta 🙂
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Trying to create stuff and be optimistic.
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I hope you are successful at both 🙂
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My poor kid was in denial that he had to go back to school today. I, however, went back to work on the 2nd, so the shock wasn’t as intense for me. I had already partially adjusted. Over the break though, I realized that I need more joy in my life and that more than likely, that joy is not found in my cubicle at my job. So, yes, I will continue doing my job to the best of my ability, but I will find the joy elsewhere – I will take a detour on the way home to watch a sunset – I’ll go to the beach for a walk whenever I feel like it – whatever I need to remain in a state of joy. I spent most of my waking hours in a job that I truly do enjoy, but there has to be more than the daily grind. I want to find it.
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Yes, I agree completely. We only get one chance at life.
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The breast plate of St. Patrick – a beautiful prayer that sustains me. I was not scheduled to work today but spent it driving my husband to various medical appointments. As we were driving home from the last one I was complaining (forgetting this was the day the world went insane yet again) and wondering why there was so much traffic in the middle of the afternoon. But, of course school is back in and many people were on their way to pick up their children. How could I forget such a momentous date? Silly me. Yet, we survived. I am grateful for the protection of my guardian angels – and four wheel drive!
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It’s a hectic day and I’m glad you survived it one piece. Hoping your husband is alright 🙏🏻
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He’s okay – lots of appointments this week, which tires him out, but he’s holding his own. Thank you for asking….hope your week gets better.
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Beautiful post … I’m behind on my reading as the madness of my little world is denying me precious time to write and read posts. This post makes a lot of sense to me. Hope the doctor’s appointment was ok. Keep going.
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I’m soldiering on. Yes, we need more action on the HIKB page. Chop Chop 😊
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It’s quite hard isn’t it balancing life, writing a book, family and blogging … quite how you do it with work and marathons as well, I have no clue! I’m in awe!
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Yesterday was a crazy day for me. I got up early to walk my son down to the bus station for his trip back to college, then bought groceries, walked home, had breakfast, and cycled to work. It was the first day of class, so I had meetings with my teaching team (5 undergrads, but one was snowed in at Tahoe and unable to make the meetings—there were 2, because no time worked for all five students). I spent most of the day struggling with “Canvas” the learning management system that the campus makes us use. Setting up courses on it is a major pain, even if all you use it for is turning in assignments and grading them. Lecture went ok, but afterwards I found that one of the figures in my book had gotten messed up between the Dec 15 and Dec 30 releases, and I had to come up with a new way to create the figure and re-release the book. (LeanPub is nice in that anyone who has bought the book can pick up the new releases for free.)
I spent several hours trying to come up with a way to get Canvas to allow me to assign students to lab groups (5 different pairings, with no student having the same partner twice), but the only way it supports that would have required about 1000 mouse clicks. I ended up doing the assignments on my computer and posting them on the class bulletin board, telling the students to enter themselves into the assigned lab groups.
So I was continually busy from 6am when I got up to midnight when I got to bed. This morning I went for a 1.5km run in light rain before breakfast, created the quiz for tomorrow’s class, and cycled up to campus for office hours, faculty meeting, and 4 hours of instructional lab.
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I’m exhausted just reading this. And I thought my life was busy. I hope you have a holiday to look forward to in the not too distant future.
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There is only one way to keep my head above the waters…Keep my eyes on Jesus. He is my strength. I do hope you and your family have a blessed year.
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Thank you. We did. Jesus is the greatest of role models, I agree.
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Yes, sometimes it’s crazy. One of the places where I teach seems to be just falling apart right now. However, having faith in God who loves us all means that there must be a reason for it. I can either whine and complain or just watch what happens and see if there’s anything I can do to help reverse the trend. To keep my head above the waters, I pray and watch what God is doing. I try to go along with his will, not mine. His will is so much better. Mine would have mucked it all up. Inevitably, even with those I love, there are often troubles. When that happens, I try to listen to what God is telling me and change my sad or angry thoughts. I don’t have to hang onto those nasty wasty thoughts. Normally people are not trying to irritate me on purpose. There is usually a way out of those thoughts, either by deep breathing, praying, exercise, whatever works. I hope things are going better for you now.
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Thank you very much. I wish I had your faith.
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