Finding a Rhythm

This about sums up how I'm feeling... Today a possible job offer came through. I'm excited for the opportunity, but with mercury retrograding I'm leery of how it will pan out. Can't let myself be whole-heartedly into it until things are agreed upon and papers signed.Until then, I wait, but waiting involves this whole tension, this feeling in your gut that sends your mind racing, "But what if...?" and you either can't sleep a full night or you find yourself in bed at weird hours. Like, 3pm.I took Carter for a longish morning walk in the rain. I listened to a podcast interview of Jamie Ridler with Ali Edwards. Ali talks about disliking the term "finding balance", since what seems "balanced" today may feel like chaos tomorrow. Instead, she focuses on rhythm. I found this ridiculously interesting - it resonated in my core.Months ago, when I was still trying to find my own "balance", I would fantasize about going for long runs, reading lots of books, having time to write, etc. The weird thing was, I had more than enough time. What I didn't have was permission from myself to live my life. I knew I was dissatisfied with my job, guilty that gratitude was hard to come by, and the rage-filled crying fits were kind of a red flag too, but some layer of thinking kept me caught up in the doing instead of being.

What was wrong was that I was numbingly unfulfilled. I was deeply angry and silently, sleeplessly anxious. I thought I was working harder than anyone and yet I was missing what everyone else seemed so easily to grasp. A life. ~Hand Wash Cold (pg 8 )

Through a weekly meeting with my therapist I began to learn just how mean I am towards myself. How I was struggling with either "permission" or "pressure". And that I'm so petrified of breaking the rules that I don't make a move.The past few months I've found a rhythm. Each morning is some combination of feeding & walking the dog, writing my morning pages, feeding myself, exercising and showering. I answer emails, do work, make phone calls and accomplish tasks. I cook food, wash my plates, drink tea, run the vacuum. My mom will call or I'll meet someone for lunch. Today I even did a spontaneous 20 min of yoga, alone in the office with huge 10ft windows facing east towards the clouded sun. And the other night I played guitar. I strummed a simple progression and H played a little lick over it and we jammed for less than an hour, but it felt good.I can't tell you what world this re-opens for me. It's been years since I've played guitar without anxiety and the other night my head was clear, my hands felt good. I wanted to be playing and I wanted to keep playing.Whatever iceberg that's been frozen around my heart is starting to break up.

It's not easy to be done with your own sob story. We might set it down for a time, but we hardly ever get rid of it. Provoked, we haul out the old emotional wadrobe and put it on again. We're so accustomed to familiar, wounded feelings and self-serving narratives...that we mistakenly think they're who we are. We think we are our thoughts; we think we are our feelings; we think we are nothing more than our buldging basket of past experiences.Can we really find happiness by letting go of what we know of ourselves? It is the only way.   ~Hand Wash Cold (pg 18)