Light it Up

Yesterday, after a full week of traveling, I gave myself somewhat of a reset day and eventually felt . . . still not reset.  It’s no secret that all of us have been carrying all sorts of bullshit extra for all of this stupid year, but yesterday when I literally put down my bags, I still felt very uncomfortably heavy.  Like overeating and drinking heavy, you ask?  Yes, and thank you for bringing that up as I put down my piece of stress induced pizza and glass of wine.  But this particular heaviness holds me like a sports bra that you want to desperately take off but can’t without decapitating yourself.  I’m unsettled and thought, well, let’s mentally unload some of this and see what I’m carrying.  On our front burners, we’ve all got family business, kid stress and logistics, job deluge and uncertainty, health anxiety, finance unknowns, continual calendar filling and everyday details.  Good lord.  And then I further ponder – Is it a coincidence that the season preceding every November election cycle and every December spending cycle centers around commercialized fear and horror and masks and spider webs?  Quite the warm up act. 

My 18 year old daughter and I were reminiscing the other night about how she vividly remembers being terrified of hearing a wolf howl on the intro of an October commercial on Nick Jr. when she was 6.  It was a transition cartoon between little kid shows and she would lose-her-freaking-marbles every time she heard that howl when 4 year old little brother was simply waiting to watch Wonder Pets after a riveting episode of Max and Ruby.  Never mind that the wolf howl was followed by a cheeky song about candycorn sung by a cute owl and the anticipation of the next show.  She was already full speed on the anxiety train unable to focus on anything else.  

While we are trudging though this year and this season, what is your Nick Jr. wolf howl right now?  The thing that is taking you over the edge and has sneakily caught you off guard.  Right on cue, spooky October.  Donning the perfect decor for the adult version of Nick Jr. wolf howls, there are spider webs all around us – aiming to engulf us all.  Here’s the thing about spider webs:  1.) Webs are camouflaged and basically invisible 2.) We fly right into webs with ease 3.) When we find ourselves in a web, we Karate Kid thrash for relief only to paralyze ourselves further 4.) Webs don’t distinguish as they are designed to catch whatever is easy prey from dirty flies and biting mosquitos to dainty butterflies and cute ladybugs. 

So I ask again, why has this wolf howl unnerved me and why am I in this sticky sickly web?  Is it the SiriusXM news channel(s) that I can’t stop listening to in the car?  The Amazon Prime day that puts me in temporary spending control with literal payback later?  The spool of chronic stress over minor speed bumps?  The distraction of overbearing judgement in the air seeping into my pores?  Uggghhhhhhh.

Inhale 2, 3, 4. Now exhale. Here’s my takeaway to immediately put into practice.  Fog dissipates.  Wolves retreat.  Spider webs glisten with visibility.  But how? What do we need?

Well, clap on. 👏🏼 👏🏼 We need a light!

Our big collective world and your specific smaller world were not created in darkness.  On the very first day, LIGHT was created.  And we were built to operate in the light.  Stop walking, talking, operating in the shadows.  You can’t see crap. They are built to distract and elicit fear and hopelessness.  Haunted houses are full of smoke and mirrors and cheap masks and fake blood, all realized once the lights turn on.  Turn on the light.  These next days of halloween and elections will transition into Thanksgiving and Christmas if we can steer clear of the present day fog and webs and just light things up.  

Need some direct suggestions on finding said light?

1.) Turn off CNN and Fox (and the other eleventeen hundred news shows) and Today Show and Facebook.  I am finding this difficult as I fear it is an actual addiction response from me while also confusing “wanting to be informed” with “can’t look away from the train wreck”.  Wait, the Today Show?  Look, they all have a direct or indirect brand of distraction and fog and I think they all suck right now.  And the 24/7 news are their own brand of reality tv that is worse than the latest season of The Bachelor which I didn’t think could get any lower.  Shine the light on 80s music (or Beach Boys and Barry Manilow if you are my mom), The Good Place reruns (highly suggest binging) and quality movies like Ferris Bueller and Hoosiers.

2.) Give yourself boundaries with people.  Shine the light on nuclear friends and family that are positive and value your company.  More is not better right now and really no time is a good time to surround yourself with shitty toxic acquaintances.  ps.  Don’t be someone’s shitty toxic acquaintance.

3.) The tally of challenges vs. blessings will never be equal so let go of that fallacy.  There will always be something to handle and one will always outweigh the other and the other seems to be challenges right now.  Shine the light on a written account of your blessings.  Being focused on the good adds needed points in that column and brings in a little perspective.  

4.) Stop comparing your fears, distractions, challenges and setbacks with others.  None of us know crap about the totality of each other’s baggage and it’s not a contest on who carries the heaviest backpack.  All of our backpacks are plenty heavy for what we personally can handle.  Shine the light on how to help carry or declutter someones backpack without adding to your own.

5.) Stop filling yourself with hopeless anxiety of present day uncertainty.  No one knows what the hell is going on right now.  We are a big anthill that has just been stepped on.  Shine the light on some big picture Bible perspective because Someone knows exactly what is going on and He’s got you handled. 100%.  Maybe you are drawn to Psalms or Proverbs or a particular letter in the New Testament.  Or maybe you just need a suggestion that isn’t so “Bible-y”.  Do this:  Google ‘Jesus miracles’ or click these links and just marvel and wonder and ponder.  This is real life history, documented and true. 

2000+ years ago “Bible times” were totally banana pants crazy.  Maybe even more so than today.  Corrupt and greedy government rule in the Roman empire, confused and judgmental Pharisaic and Sadduceic church, ludicrous and unaccountable lifestyles.  But those that took a step away from the freak show that was alarmingly alluring and sought out the light got the show of ALL shows from Jesus himself.  For crying out loud, Jesus’s first miracle was changing water to wine at a wedding when his mom asked him to help John 2:1-11. Cheers and thank you.  Followers of the light delighted with front row seats to lasik surgery Mark 8:22-26, fish tacos Luke 9:10-17, clear skin Luke 5:12-14, family reunions John 11:1-45 and sweet sunset cruises Matthew 8:23-27.  Honestly, why are we looking at anything else?

Create and relish the warmth and clarity of a lit space. We have to be deliberate about keeping our flashlight nearby and looking for other lighthouses, iPhone lighters and maybe even a sparkler in the mix. Step away and out of the shadows. They are there to distract, divide and confuse. Light it up, my friend.  We need it now more than ever.