Getting Off the Hamster Wheel

I came down with a cold this week -- or maybe last, but it really hit this week as I was recovering from chemo. Perfect timing! Then Quinn spent Tuesday night feverishly whimpering in bed next to me. He woke up sick to his stomach Wednesday morning, which made two of us. The last few days have been kind of a blur. In traditional denial-ist fashion, I've been telling myself I just have terrible allergies, even as my head has spent most of this week feeling like I got run over by a reindeer.

I managed to make it to yoga earlier in the week (or late last week?), hoping to sweat out some of the gunk that's been plaguing me. I ran into a friend and mentioned that I've been feeling like I'm on a hamster wheel lately, with the decorating and shopping and cards and laundry and cleaning and baking and school activities and I just hadn't been feeling very festive. "Oh my God, me too," she said.

She told me she'd been feeling the same thing but had had a session with a local woman who is part therapist, part energy healer. And I might normally roll my eyes, but this friend is especially grounded and I've had some pretty remarkable sessions with people doing energy work myself. Also, my friend told me something that really struck home. Her therapist/healer suggested looking at the items on the hamster wheel from a slightly different perspective, shifting her gaze just a tad so things no longer feel like chores. Hearing this, it was as if I was suddenly given permission to be okay with the chaos, to embrace it even, to possibly find some kooky sort of joy in it. I feel like my friend got a two-for-one deal because this was EXACTLY the nudge I needed to get my head out of my ass.

Then, another woman I didn't know too well -- but who was also rejected by The TODAY Show before she was invited (and attended) on the Plaza with Joan Lunden -- passed away this week. We'd sent each other congratulatory notes on our TODAY appearances. A few weeks later, she suffered a stroke from which she never really recovered. Despite all that, in October, she tweeted this, which is a perfect little nugget of wisdom. Thank you, Annie.

I beg of the world. Stop complaining. Find ways to be happy. Seriously. Dig deep. Even in my worst times, I still try. No matter how hard.
— Annie Goodman (@annieg917) October 28, 2014