Panic or euphoria

Frosty leaves on Trail 4, Howard Buford Recreation Area (Jan. 27)

Eight per cent. That’s how much of the year will have gone by as of late tonight. But measuring time by percentage points seems largely inappropriate. Sometimes time is very dense, and other times time is very porous—and differently for different people, and possibly differently simultaneously for individuals. There’s a brain-bending concept! Quantification goes only so far in the temporal realms.

I’ve got two separate appointments to get tutored in Medicare 101—one is a Zoom webinar offered by a local credit union, and the other is an in-person meeting with our agent. It turns out I already have a Medicare card with my official number—found it because I just opened a big DHHS envelope that’s been sitting on the dining room table for a few days. What can I say—I’m an avoider. Now reorienting to action mode to deal with the impending deadline coming up in May.

In other news, I am practicing emotional distancing from the news. It’s easy to give in to instant reactions—negative or positive, panic or euphoria—when big and loud headlines break. But that doesn’t feel healthy. It’s giving in to manipulation and allows entities who don’t care about me to jiggle and jerk me like a puppet on strings. The strings are in my head. I can cut them—make them disappear—by withholding my emotional attention. Thanks for reading.