Week one of the new year complete, and again, I am living through events I never thought I’d see (and never wanted to see) in my lifetime. Insurrectionists were storming the Capitol building in DC to stop democracy in action. A president who has spent most of the last four years on Twitter eerily silent while it was happening. I’ve heard from some of his supporters he told the mob to go home, but he sure didn’t on his Twitter account until well after they had breached and desecrated the Capitol building.

I’m weary; my soul is weary. I’m focused on two distinct paths right now, educating myself on how the government is supposed to work, exploring conservative voices (to appreciate other viewpoints and gain understanding), and taking time for myself to maintain my sanity and joy.

I am not going to lie; it’s hard trying to be open to other viewpoints. I think it’s important, though, to avoid us vs them mentality that has been raging in this country for some time now. I need to expose myself to other ideas to see what we have in common and build on that. If we don’t work on coming together, we will fall apart. We are falling apart.

In the spirit of working on my joy and maintaining my sanity, I watched “Less is Now” this morning on Netflix. I’m interested in living a materially smaller life. I’ve been putting efforts into living more intentionally and trying to figure out what that looks like for me. I know that I have some changes to make, to have less, to spend with more intention. As much as I love the convenience of Amazon, I am working to support more small businesses, local businesses, and minority owned businesses.

This week I made a choice to buy some Schitt’s Creek magnets from Etsy. The magnets I have are mostly advertisements, and half of them don’t work that well. I’ll be cleaning out once the new ones come, ones that I picked for myself and will bring joy when seeing them, and I supported a small business in the process. These are the changes I’m looking to make in my life, cleaning out, upgrading with purchases that bring my joy both in the item, and knowing I am supporting something good when I buy them.

As for the education piece, a friend has suggested a documentary and some other news sources. I’m looking forward to diving in and gaining more knowledge, but not today. Today I was scrolling social media and felt the weight of current events bearing down on me. I closed the app and changed the course for the day. It’s in the small choices our power lies.

Today- I am choosing me so that tomorrow I will have the strength to support others.

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