September stress brings a beautiful mess

Hello you sunny side of the street.

Okay...  how is everyone feeling after that first week of September?  Are you doing alright?  Still able to breathe deeply?  All limbs intact?  Nod your head if your answer is yes.  Okay, good.  Me too. 

And so shifting gears, I have encountered the art form before, but since one of my favourite mugs broke this week, I have been in a small rabbit hole revisiting the beauty of kintsugi,  or the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold dust or other pretty filler.  And yes, it prompted me think about human beings and all of our brokenness...  You know where I am going with this... #CaptainObvious I am nowhere close to being the first person to have made the connection between this art and people more generally (but I like Nerdwriter's movie-based take on it, for example-- concise yet profound). But truly, it really is a lovely art form as well as underlying philosophy. So before we jump in, feel free to check out some of this kintsugi eye candy here, here and here.

Listen, friends: we have been talking lots this year about how to be a human being with all of our beautiful and wonky gloriousness.  However, as the crispy pacing of autumn ramps up, so too does the quantity and quality of our stress levels and generalized existential angst.  And when stress ramps up, for me, one of the first important truth-narratives that I forget is that I am a broken human being, I am surrounded by other broken human beings, and this is all wonderful and messy and fun and painful. Ultimately, it is all okay because emotions are not the same as meaning, and stress is REALLY effective at making us confuse the two.

So to keep in touch with the realities of feeling all the feels and living well in seasons of potential or actual stress, I really enjoyed the matter-of-fact reminders in this article about what real 'wellness' looks like-- not told to us by marketers and advertisements-- but as practical, scientifically-backed ways to stay connected with your whole person (in other words, your physical, emotional, cognitive, social, environmental and spiritual health). And as you contemplate what truly makes you feel "well", I also really enjoyed this simple zen article outlining how shift happens in our lives and what we can do to help move closer to feeling like/ being our best selves.  

Speaking of feelings, an important variable in both interpreting and managing our feelings in times of stress revolves around our interactions with others (a running theme that we have explored a little bit before here, here and here if interested in revisiting some platypus classics).  One of the most important parts of living well that I was reminded of this week was how to show up for other people even when you have your own shit to deal with. This article really resonated since I had at least one major moment (and likely others) where I didn't show up the way someone needed me to. In other moments, I showed up as best I could for people, and I also had a few experiences where people showed up for me in a big way. This beautifully messy mix of regret, accomplishment, vulnerability and gratitude was a useful reminder to me of how we co-create each other and re-create ourselves through the people with whom we surround ourselves. It is something I think about a lot (with enormous gratitude for all the human awesomeness that surrounds me), but those sneaky September vibes this week really helped highlight how true this is, how difficult and complex it can be sometimes to navigate it well, and how transformative and transformed we all are, both by each other and by the brokenness we are bringing to our interactions.

Maybe this feels like a lot for early autumn, but I think better to have a quick check-in as we all step into the September whirlwind, than let the season unfold without reminding myself of what is important. So I share a small insight from my experiences this week about feeling versus meaning, about showing up for each other even with our immense brokenness and gold-filled cracks, and ultimately doing our best to remember what is really needed by ourselves and others even in times of inevitable autumn stress.  (super secret pro-tip hint: what is needed is love... but you already knew that)

And so how was your week, my platypus friend? Did you have a similar (or different) experience? Feel free to drop me a line by replying to this email or leaving a comment on the blog.

But wait! Is all this talk of keeping in touch with yourself and others feeling a bit too ambitious on a sunny Sunday morning?  Then please enjoy this article about scientists searching for a mirror universe. So don't worry!  If everything sucks, there is another universe out there where we are all doing great! 

Still too much realness?  Then please enjoy the difference between novice and expert video game skills in this video

From one kitsugi-loving person to another, I am glad that we can be broken together. I hope you enjoyed this dispatch, and have a well week!

Until next Sunday,
The Earnest Platypus