A short email about nothing

Hello,

I do not have anything clever to write this week. I have a few ideas knocking around my head and I don’t seem to have the brain power to make them into anything.

My friend has a really good description of this level of tiredness - it’s like trying to boil the kettle when there is no water in it.

So this bit of the newsletter will be short and sweet but below are some interesting things from the world of the internet.

Thank you everyone for the lovely messages following on from last week’s post about depression (and big knickers). I didn’t get the blue nails in the end but I did get my grey roots covered and I ordered an auburn brow colour from the glossier sale. I was quite excited when I saw they were doing make up for redheads - and the fact that I am getting excited about eyebrows is progress…

Maybe.

After posting last week I worried that the email would seem like it was attention seeking or overly dramatic. That wasn’t my intention. I just wrote what was happening to me that day and while I have been down, I’m also OK. Please don’t worry about me.

From the messages I got, it seems that a lot of us are in a similar state.

Since then I’ve been taking medication (along with a full alphabet of vitamins) and sleeping A LOT. Even by my standards, a lot. One chunky nap in the day and asleep by around 9pm.

This is what our bodies naturally want to do this time of year and I’m going with it. I know that I am very fortunate to have the kind of work and living arrangement that allows me to do it. The upside of being single and living alone is that you really can sleep as much as you want to.

This can also be a downside.

And that’s all I have to say. Yesterday I was in the cafe again - it’s called Stone Bros on Chatsworth Road, run by brothers Kem and Harry - and watched as Harry put fairy lights along the windows.

‘You’re making me nervous, watching me,’ he said.

‘But this is the most excitement she’s had all week,’ my sister said.

And it’s true! It felt like the turning on of the lights on Oxford Street. We just needed a minor pop star to make a speech and cut a ribbon. Instead I clapped when they were up and helpfully pointed out where they were a bit wonky.

And that really is all the news. The cafe has Christmas lights. I’ve got good hair. I’ve been sleeping a lot. And I’m soon to have ginger eyebrows.

I feel better than last week.

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IN OTHER NEWS

Barbara Windsor has died. She seemed like a fabulous woman. Her husband says that her ‘final weeks were typical of how she lived her life. Full of humour, drama and a fighting spirit until the end.’ RIP.

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Have you seen this funny nativity video? Apparently it’s been around for a while and it’s the cutest.

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I enjoyed this podcast by Brene Brown. She says we are all suffering from mental exhaustion because our brains are working overtime to understand this new world we are in.

She says we need rest and to find ways to look after our mental fitness - meditation, art, nature etc. I have dropped meditation this year which was silly. I’ve started again. I have also been spending far too much time looking at my screen - whether it’s writing, zooming or watching Netflix.

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Speaking of which…

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This week I have been watching Tin Star on Now TV. Has anyone seen it? It’s violent and also very funny in parts. I do wonder what is in us humans - me - that we spend hours and hours and hours watching pretend people destroy each other?

Also, this reminds me I want to write a TV addiction at some point because I am teetering on the brink. Hour after hour after hour; even when I no longer care what happens to any of the characters I keep pressing ‘next episode’. A book called Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace - haven’t actually read it, I’m too busy watching Netflix - talks about humans are being ‘entertained to death.’ Yup.

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I still haven’t put up a Christmas tree.

This poem is beautiful. Thank you Aisling for sharing.

Tina Turner has written a book about happiness. One of her golden rules is to never complain. In an interview in the Guardian she says:

‘Many years ago, when I was going through my toughest times, some very wise older women in my neighbourhood chanting group told me to never complain because “complaints erase good fortune”. I agree. Complaining is a waste of precious time, doesn’t solve anything, and only brings you down. We can transform any situation by changing ourselves first, opening our hearts ever wider and increasing our compassion.’

Noted, Tina.

To that end, I am going to make this week’s Writing for Fun and Sanity workshop a cheerful one. Buy tickets HERE

Ok, that’s all. Hope you are ok and if you are not I hope you have someone to talk to.

Love and thanks for reading.

Mx