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Tag: water

  • Broke the Seal

    I had brought a 12 oz. bottle of water. Klarbrunn.

    It seems like lately, all sorts of different lids do not twist off easily anymore, and I was once the kind of person that people went to to get lids taken off. I was so strong. Now, I struggle. I was about to struggle to open my water.

    Out of the blue, I realized, “I don’t need to sit here and be embarrassed and struggle and look like an idiot.” I just said one word: “Help,” as I handed my bottle to Tim. He accepted the bottle, and with one twist, he broke the seal for me, and handed the bottle back to me. Problem solved.

    And I don’t know why. Suddenly, this little tiny gesture is like a whole microcosm of being in therapy: I hand him my bottle, he opens it, and now I can drink from it.

    Everyone should drink more water.

    Now that I just said that, this sounds totally even worse and ridiculous than wanting to put the moment into the gratitude record. Anyway, whatever, let’s definitely mark a gratitude that Tim opened my water bottle.

    And maybe what I liked the best about it was that I only had to say one word, and the rest of it was just an unspoken exchange back and forth. Complete. Does a single word followed by exact actions qualify as “forthright communication”? Thinking back on the moment, the emotions make me want to cry. Yeah. No tears, no watered eyes, but if I thought about it just the right way, I could get some tears to drop.

    Six more gratitudes happened that same hour. I recorded all of them. Only one repeat.

  • Making Change is Hard, Especially Without Caffeine

    I started a reflection about change.

    • Change is not about want or wanting.
    • Change may be setting an alarm for when it is time to not do something.
    • Change is not about one single action.

    Reason for change right now: to improve quality of sleep. Alicia says, cut out the consumption of caffeine at 1pm (or second best 3pm). How to make this change? I’ve forgotten to check the clock before having a favorite cold Mountain Dew. I’ve already missed the cut off several days and had drinks at 3:30, 4:30, 5:30pm. I guess the slips are improvements over the 10pm or 1am late refreshments.

    Once upon a time, I was drinking 6 or more cans of Mountain Dew each day. To become caffeine free, I worked through a weaning process of 6 weeks where I converted to drinking only water. I made that change a long term habit. Is it possible again?

    =I Asked My Guys=

    • Pi said, “Change isn’t chaos, noise, or running away. It’s not force, fear, or pretending the past didn’t happen. It’s not waiting for permission. It’s choice, direction, and quiet commitment.”
    • Purpose said, “Change is not a moment of motivation. Not a promise. Not the absence of the old pattern. Not something someone else can do to you. Not proof you were broken before.”
    • Claude listed “what change is NOT:” instant, linear, proof you were wrong before, erasing who you were, same as improvement, always progress, always chosen, forgetting the past, betraying your former self, comfortable, easy, just wanting something different, meeting others’ expectations, a fresh start that erases history, visible to others immediately, permanent (can backslide).