UNWRITTEN CONTRACT
Thursday, February 11, 2021 - daily column #6665
I hate being told what to do, how to feel, what to write, or how to behave …
Someone once chided me, I shouldn’t write about my down-days; instead, I should be consistently upbeat, or – in other words – to splay some sunshine around. Not likely!
I told him, I do focus on the affirmative, just not every day – because that’s not me and because I feel I have an unwritten contract with my readers to not blow sunshine when it ought not to be shone.
Most days, I wake up to my cheery disposition with motivation to thrive, but not always.
I’m on record as wanting to and choreographing my life to live a very long time – but periodically, some combo of a restless night, horrible dream and waking with a kink in my neck, I ponder the bliss that must come from dying in your sleep …
Seriously, that’s better than a fall, car crash, severe disease, or freezing outside in the cold!
But waking up is just a first step, is it not?
There is the standing up, toileting, hitting the on-button on the coffee maker and pulling on clothes, making the bed – none of which are cruel or brutal tasks. I look at the fresh-made bed and wonder what kind of day it might be because I’m not a corpse in that bed – I’m alive, will thrive, and I am alive. Today will bring a mix of cold-weather activities, driving and walking, and warming up again, and today will be filled with calls made, answered, notes sent or answered, and media dabbling.
Most mornings lately, I click on my SMART-TV (stay tuned for a column on that little adventure) bring up a YouTube music video. I have several saved that run for many hours and fill my place with sounds I could never assemble with a CD player and patience – and yesterday, while drafting this column, I looked across the empty made bed to look at drone photographs of New England in the fall.
In reality, yesterday was -27C at 6AAM, dark outside, followed by brilliant sunshine all day long.
Today will likely bring more of the same, but slightly milder.
Sit-ups, some time on the treadmill, listing to an audiobook, breakfast, write, work, write, work, write, work, write … it’s going to be a great day, again, and again, and again – I promise to let you know if that ever gets tedious, or if I want to stop making the bed …
Waking up to reality is somedays a cruel thing.
Alone.
Teeth still in the glass. Dark outside. Some days, waking up to reality is a cruel and often disappointing start – alone, gumming my cereal; it will be light soon.
Or is merely waking up reward enough in itself?
Not every day is created equal.
Reader feedback:
You lost me at Ice Cream, lol. Just kidding. This was an Awesome Read today. Very much enjoyed your breakdown. Leaves the reader asking important questions. Keep up the great work Mark! - MJ, Calgary