Groundhog Day 2021

France | 2014 © Alicia Kae Miller

I am unsure if the recent Wolf Moon, global pandemic, social and political unrest, or winter blues have got my internal compass spinning, but for the life of me, I cannot point my arrow in any specific direction.

Whoa. Reread the part about the burden of our current state of affairs.

We.

Are.

In.

Deep.

Yet, we collectively keep moving, albeit with glacial speed, forward >>>.

As for this one, 1978 called, and Journey's Wheel in the Sky has been playing a continuous loop in my 'noggin since writing the first line of this Perspective.

In the early stages of the pandemic, I went through a period of no sleep. Then gleefully into a deep sleep, but now I find myself back on the little to no sleep diet, which makes Madame none too pleased (K., wink, wink).

If you are vigorously nodding in agreement, then you likely concur that some days are just darn harder to bear than others, which leaves us thinking, "What the [insert your word here] am I doing?" Sometimes our path forward is crystal clear, and then on other days, clear as mud.

Faithful readers know that I primarily dwell in the land of positive, but now and again, I take a personal hard left, like John Beckwith (played by Owen Wilson) in Wedding Crashers "down to negative town." I do my best not to take any passengers on this soul kicking journey, but occasionally, I unwittingly crash head-on into others.

A recent chat with the aforementioned long-time friend, K., who does not hesitate to tell you what's on her mind, led to a minor fender bender when she bluntly asked me a timely question. My response surprised her, and I believe her exact words were, "that is not the Alicia that I know."

Grrr. She is right. I am a research nut, but on this particular topic, not so much. I made a judgment call, aka assumption, a while ago. No surprise, she doled out a compelling argument that left me with a lot to consider.

I recently posted the following quote on behalf of Empathy Uprise (EU) to social media:

We find that assumptions are generally incorrect.

When we do not ask questions, we are only left with assumptions.

Get Curious.

Thankfully I took our advice and did not let further assumptions override curiosity. While there is a great deal more research to be done on my part, I am grateful for the challenge and, of course, K.'s enduring friendship.

Until we meet again, do not let assumptions muddy your view to the point of no return. ❤️

Yours in Solidarity, -akm

February 3, 2021

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