Companion Thoughts for a Rainy Mind
letting the sunshine in
Good morning from dreamy and rainy NYC <3
It’s the holiday weekend, a time when we might have wanted to visit the beach, go for a bike ride, prepare a picnic, anything just to be outside, but here in NYC it’s a perfect day to hide indoors. I spent the morning sitting here on the couch, wrapped in a pile of blankets, consuming heavy articles, maddening videos, navigating the mental cobwebs of existential crises that seem to multiply with each new morning, with or without help from an outside informant.
I know you can relate, we all can. There is so much to be angry about, and it’s all available at our fingertips, 24/7. I was starting to feel sick though, time to take the reins and pull myself up and out before drowning. I sent a voice memo to a friend to process some things I read, put on a comforting playlist, and opened this fresh page on Substack, extending my survival in the form of a long branch that reaches from me to you. Already a breath of relief, worlds better.
I thought in that moment of a conversation I had with Sebastian Rochford backstage before a recent show in Brighton on May 12. We were talking about our nonnegotiable values and the hardwired passions that drive us forward. Our personal sources of hope. The words that we reach for, what we wish to cultivate much more of as our lives continue. Mine were compassion, real compassion, curiosity, and equality. His were community, equality, and music. We talked about how each of these choices were in a way, versions of the same ideas. Then we thought of other people we knew and imagined which words they would choose.
I’m thinking of this now because of the actions I took a few minutes ago, in that heavy moment when my mind was a dark cloud, raining.
voice memo to a close friend
put on music
open Substack, start a new article
write to you all
Each of these shifts, actions of comfort and connection, and each elevated my state of mind, returning me to myself, to community, and to the seed of hope. As easy as it is to enter the vortex of news stories and a world gone wrong, it is also just as easy to return to action, solution, community, using the fuel of horror to bring ourselves back to each other, asking ‘what now? what about today?’
As my greatest broken record song, I repeat myself again saying thank you to all of you, thank you to this community, thank you for being.
What are your words, the nonnegotiable values, the passions that drive you forward, your personal sources of hope that pull you out of the muck? And what is a physical action you might take in a moment of heaviness, in the way I put on music and opened a fresh Substack page to talk to you all? Think about it if it’s interesting today, journal or write about it, and if you don’t mind, please add your thoughts in the comments if you have some time.
In light of this theme, I also want to show appreciation for a few writers on this platform, friends and peers who embody the soul of community and curiosity, and who use their time, energy, and platform with purpose - to move towards a better, more beautiful, and more just world.
They come from different industries and backgrounds, using different mediums - words, music, research, cooking, visual art, etc. Something for everyone.
So if you are home today, open to a new companion, needing a moment of departure from the demoralizing torture of the news, something fresh to elevate and inspire, here are some new friends. I have words to say about each of them, but I will let their pages speak for themselves. :)
Sebastian Rochford writes Sebastian’s Substack
Tara writes Permission Slips
Lauren Hall writes The Phenomenological Society
Lee Penman writes Misfit-The Rambling Raconteur
Robert Byler writes The Eye Is The First Circle
Sarah Copeland writes EDIBLE LIVING by Sarah Copeland
Hal Gill writes Harrowings
Modern Biology writes In The Field
And a big shout out to some incredible friends who also embody these ideas, who continuously bring comfort, give me hope in this world, and who I would love to read a Substack from: Dawn, Bird, Parker (pen&brush), Sunday, Jaclyn, Kristine, Coulee, Rev Todd, Christiane. And bran new friends Penny and Amanda for reminding me of true human kindness.
Thank you so very much for reading this, for everything. If you have any thoughts related to the questions posed, the writers referenced, or want to add any other publications you love, please add everything and anything in the comments. As always, I would love to read them all.
Sending good wishes on this rainy Sunday :)
A few nice songs that I listened to while writing <3
Thank you! This post brought up my spirits drowned a bit by rain and jet lag. 🦋🦋🦋
It’s cool and drizzly here in Chicago this morning. The sun will come out later. I too start to feel dispirited but then I take my pup out for a walk, I brush the cats, I feed my rescue tortoise and then I pour myself into my music. Oh, the little free library project is almost done! We need to fix our mitre saw before we can finish. It came out pretty good!