I am not sure why, or even if it is healthy, but lately, to deal with the stress that I am feeling, concerning this whole coronavirus situation, and therefore feeling ancillary anxiety about every and all of the other situations, which are also affected by the coronavirus, I have found great comfort in reading books or watching movies about people who are experiencing a great deal more stress (we are talking EXTREME stress) than I am currently feeling. It is said that “comparison is the thief of happiness”, but not necessarily, if you aren’t at all enchanted with someone else’s mess of a life. The movie, which I just watched last night with my family, and the fiction book that I am currently reading, are excellent, engrossing, and have allowed me to discharge and to channel all of that excess fearful, worry-mongering energy into fictional lives. I wonder, perhaps, if this is my way to process the jittery, intensifying energy, safely and comfortably in my own, disinfected home. Granted, it might be a better choice for me, to read about gardens or unicorns or to watch G-rated Disney movies/musicals, or even to just try to gaze at my belly button while counting my breaths, but honestly, I wouldn’t be able to sit still for any of that right now. It is much better for me, to hold tightly to my frenetic energy, in my stiffened joints, while sitting on the edge of my seat, lost in the make-believe world of someone else’s “living on the edge” experiences, and then to be able to release all of that uptight stress, with a sigh of relief, “Oh, relax. That movie wasn’t real. This is a fiction book. It’s all ‘pretend.’ ” If you want to deal with the coronavirus stress with more stress, like I am doing, watch Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems and read American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. Adam Sandler plays a crazy jeweler/gambling addict whose life is spiraling out of control, and American Dirt tells the tale of a mother and child in Mexico, who are trying to escape the drug cartels, by becoming migrants, and trying to make their way, safely from Mexico to Denver. Both experiences are so thrilling and packed with twists and turns, that you will, in no way, be able to move your mind to the scary COVID maps on the computer, or to the cashier who coughed all over your receipt at the grocery store. Who knew that the remedy to dealing with stress is to add more stress? You’re welcome.
Fortune for the Day – “To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it.” – Confucius