I know I have some Canadian readers here and I wish we had beat someone in the Gold Medal game, but I’m so excited for USA Hockey this morning! I teared up a bit when Hughes shot the winning shot after hearing earlier in the game that only 37 people in the US have Gold Medals for hockey. It is such an amazing feat. And he lost teeth earlier in the game and was able to come back almost immediately and then shot the winning shot. And he looked to be about a 1/2 foot shorter than most of the players! I’m not typically a hockey fan, but I am absolutely amazed at what they can do on ice and for so long at such great speeds and with such violent contact happening all the time! It is both impressive and a little scary.
I have not watched much of the Olympics this year. I am not sure why. I am finding it hard to find joy in things I used to love. Part of it is that patriotism has taken on a different, and not necessarily always positive emotion as of late. It must be hard to be an athlete for the USA right now. Part of it is that I feel like I’ve lost a bit of my zest for life. Maybe it is getting older, but really it feels like everything being always accessible dulls the experience. I am constantly getting updates about the events and what happened, so watching at night feels like a recap instead of an exciting newness. This game was unique in that it was at 5 am and I was up early to watch, so no spoilers possible.
I guess I kind of feel like this in many aspects of my life when I think about it though. I am having a hard time finding joy and wonder in my life. I kind of feel like I’m on one of those moving walkways at the airport and my jobs and my responsibilities in Girl Scouts and at home and for debate and, and, and…are just coming at me and I don’t have any real way to get off the walkway, so I can’t take time to enjoy or just relax – it just keeps moving along and I’m looking back at things thinking, “well that was pretty cool” but something else is coming at me, so I can’t just enjoy it. I’ve noticed that I have stopped taking as many photos. I’ve stopped celebrating milestones and little wins. I have no regular enjoyable activities (trivia or dinner with friends or hanging out with family) – sometimes they pop up, but they aren’t regular. They are not on the moving walkway. It feels like life is dull, but when I really think about it, it isn’t dull, it is me not noticing and appreciating.
So, I don’t know how I went from the USA Hockey winning Olympic Gold to this, but I am going to really focus on noticing and appreciating and figuring out something I can put on the moving walkway that I actually enjoy. Anyone else ever have this feeling of dullness? What do you to snap out of it? How do you both escape the moving walkway AND/OR how do you really make or help yourself notice and appreciate all the wonder around you?
Okay – back to cleaning and getting things together for my daughter’s 17th birthday party today. I will have 12 teen girls at my house in 3 hours and I am not ready.
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