Monday, November 21, 2022

Grateful

I am trying to focus on the things I have, and not the rest.  I have a pretty good life.  But I was listening to the Nerdette podcast last week, and the health expert was talking about how when she was diagnosed with a chronic illness she kept trying to get back to the life she had before.  And her doctor said, you can't.  You can't go back, you can only create a life where you have a chronic illness.  And she compared this to our pandemic situation.  We can't go back to how life was before.  
Just like I can't go back to a life before the internet.  (I also don't want to overall).  Life as we know it has fundamentally changed.  Ignoring that just makes us unhappy.  And also possibly sick.  
So, I could list things I am happy for, like friends, family, books, cats, food, science, and so on.  But mostly I am grateful to continue to be.  I am grateful to be.  I am grateful to get to face challenges whether it's reply to all email chains, or folks destroying a useful app I enjoyed, or our country's obsession with guns, I am still here, and I get to figure out how to forge a life with the tools I have, and for that I am grateful.  I am grateful that you are here to, wherever and whenever you are reading this.