Posted by noa on May 12, 2003, at 18:52:29
In reply to Re: The seriousness of sanity » Eddie Sylvano, posted by leeran on May 12, 2003, at 13:53:18
I can go both ways. Sometimes caught up in the worrying about "grown up" stuff, and sometimes able to step out of the worrying and appreciate what is.
Sometimes, it is nice to put things in perspective. I am glad that I can sometimes just be appreciative of what I have. Sometimes I'll step into the nice, warm shower, and think to myself, "Ah, clean, warm, running water." There are places in the world (far too many, I'm sure) where this is not a given. Where, instead of worrying about the kinds of things you mentioned, people have to spend a good part of their day just finding and hauling water.
Or once in a while, I can stop and notice the abundance of beautiful and varied produce options at the store. It is pretty amazing.
Or to stop in the middle of obsessing about finances to tell myself, "well, at least my housing situation is stable and relatively affordable". This one is very real to me, because it is new. Had I not been able to buy this place last year, I would be in a far less stable housing situation, which would affect my quality of life enormously. So, it feels good when I can interrupt my worrying about money, or about the repairs that need to happen here, etc. etc. to remind myself that I am lucky.
All of this was reinforced for me more, when I recently read "Nickle and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich.
poster:noa
thread:226042
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030506/msgs/226182.html