I was listening to the Freakonomics podcast recently and was introduced to the idea of a happiness bell curve.
According to the research, we hit the peak of our unhappiness (or the trough of our happiness) in our late 40’s. Which means if I’m not already in it, I’m cruising towards the pit of despair.
Woke: as a political term of African-American origin refers to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice. It is derived from the African-American Vernacular English expression “stay woke“, whose grammatical aspect refers to a continuing awareness of these issues. (source: Wikipedia).
Even if you know what “woke” means, you may still wonder if YOU are woke. And with current events, you may be feeling guilty and confused and wanting to be woke, and not sure how to make it happen.
Deep breath.
The beauty of this idea is the part where it is a “continuing awareness.”
This past Sunday we celebrated Pentecost at church.
As a church worker, the Chaplain was familiar with the calendar and knew which week it was, so he would always wear the traditional red.
I would show up to Mass, flustered and with our pack of kids, and see a sea of red around me and feel angry because if I’d known, I’d have worn red, too. I love that sort of thing.
Why didn’t the Chaplain ever tell me, I wanted to know. Or even, just send me a link to the church calendar so I could find the information myself?
Newly Catholic, I know there are weeks we wear different colors to symbolize different things, but I don’t always know when, or even how to find the information.
This year, that running argument, our equivalent of who left the toothpaste cap off, was a complete non-issue.
I’ve been reading, discovering, planning, and sewing every day for the past few weeks. I made a beautiful project that I’m looking forward to sharing here, except I can’t seem to get around to taking photos of it completed.
I can’t gather steam to make any one of these activities come to anything.
I can’t read enough of any book to finish it. I can’t get past my sewing indecision to make the next project. The pressure coming from within to make something and prove my worth is ridiculous. And I mean ridiculous because of the pressure’s intensity, and also ridiculous that I feel I have to prove my worth.
It’s that time again. Here are a few things that provided a good escape this past week:
1. Adventure movies with dubious plot lines.
