"Of course it's a good idea!" - God to Arthur
Highlights: Avoiding and ignoring the election hasn't been easy, and I've progressively sunken further and further into the circus of late. I've been trying to distance myself, but the algorithms are so deft that one transgression can result in a cascade of doom scrolling. I certainly have my strong preference, but I am leaning heavily on the stoic and zen awareness of what's within your ability to influence and how time is lost, lamenting the rest, including time spent doom scrolling. So, I'm done with that and getting back to my regularly scheduled programming. I had to punt meeting Jack for lunch today due to not feeling well, but the rest of the day seems to have helped. I managed to attend to some banking, postal, and grocery needs before settling into the afternoon at home, wasting time as mentioned above, but enough to recognize it as such. I think I'll need to wear noise-cancelling headphones for the next week or two.
Insights: Walking daily continues to resonate, and tomorrow, I'll be pressing for another early rise and departure. If I wait too long I encountered the minicaravan at Stratford. Ugh. And the earlier start works perfectly for the parallel meditaiton efforts. Having these routines is good for my mental health. I have been striving to reduce the distractions and commitments so I can put my full attention on writing, and I'm starting to consider leaving the house more often, even if it's just a walk to Starbucks, as the distractions at home, not of Jen but of 'things to do', is more of an internal struggle than not doom scrolling through the final week of the election.