Let’s Get Coffee
How To Love Life Despite Anxiety Parking In a Crowded Business District
I helped my almost-16-year-old daughter practice driving on a commercial street. Am I the only one who thinks “Oh Lord, where will I park,” when approaching an address in a business district? This is stressful for me and a metaphor for other parts of life. I’m stressed parking, stressed waking up thinking of the day, stressed seeing my Facebook friends, thinking “How will I connect with them?” There may be no real point to the stress. If it’s FOMO I need to get over it. For parking, I can get there six minutes earlier, or two minutes earlier, or whatever, chill about it. As for as getting up in the morning unsure how to tackle the day…how about meditating?
Meditating, Not at the Beach
Meditating might be good if it took me onto a relaxing beach instead of a life crowded with demands. Sometimes I do find myself on a beach, but usually in a place like that mentioned at the beginning, waking up not sure who I am. I remember the beach, but I’m not there now, and, in an important sense am still recovering from all the travel we’ve recently done. So in a way meditating gets me off the beach and into my life now. At least it gets me closer to my life right now. Which begs the question how did I get far from it?
I’m always wanting to be on a beach or in a different place or state of mind. Sometimes I slow down and breathe and that can be meditative; I don’t care in that moment whether I’m on a beach or not. Sometimes I want to be someplace different. I want to go out and get a cup of coffee with someone, because I like to go out with someone different and talk, and find out about them, find out more about us. Ah the joy of making friends!
What’s the bridge that joins us? I can’t be myself without another. Yet I can’t be myself with another either. Do I have to make promises and commitments to others so they’ll be willing to complete me and thereby restrict me? There has to be a better way. How about seeing where things go? Connect with someone without any agenda or commitment. Would it be so terrible to live my entire life seeing where it goes with others?
Anyway, about the coffee thing. How about we go get a cup of coffee?
