How much of you fits in a day?
On chocolate before lunch and the quiet cost of curating ourselves
“I can’t believe how many things you think about in a day!”, my husband (who’s known me for 20 years, btw) said to me a few evenings ago.
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To be fair, I had just gone down a path of an abstract-level monologue (which seemed very tangible and embodied to me) about systems, societal expectations, and the false superiority of the delayed gratification narrative… and all this was connected to the very existentialist question of why on Earth our 7-year-old shouldn’t get some chocolate before lunch, why passionately living in the moment is not cherished more, and also, what does it mean to be a good parent, anyway?
As I was swirling around in my metaphors and somehow made the link between all the above and abstract expressionism, my husband started smiling - maybe in disbelief or maybe because my enthusiasm for discussing all this was charming?
***
It’s these moments of being met with a surprised reaction that make me think:
We carry the whole of ourselves with us, within us, the whole day long. And in most of our interactions, we (can) only share either very tiny or very watered-down aspects of our inner selves.
Photo by Danist Soh on Unsplash
So as I close this post - and my day - I’m leaving a question - or two - open:
How much of our inner colourfulness and vibrancy do we get to show as we’re role-hopping throughout our day? And how can we create space(s) for ourselves to do more of that?
With kindness in mind, word, and action,
Irena