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In 2012, I embarked on a project of an inanimate object with the question, “What would [object] say if it had a voice?” So I gave it a voice on twitter. As it turned out, thousands of others — including elected officials, celebrities (even you, Liz) — were also very curious about what that inanimate object thought. I shepherded its life for ten years until it naturally stopped needing me, y’all stopped needing it to be.

I’m gonna say something now that may sound insane, but objects have life. They may not be sentient, but they have a life that is no less than each of us. We need to listen, to *really* hear what everything is telling us... people, dogs, books, rugs... anything we touch also touches us. I know, I know... but everything we know or could ever know is made of a combination of a finite set of elements; elements we all share. When we die, our ashes and bones will not have life but they are no less part of this whole universe of life. Bones speak.

Anyway, who wouldn’t want to work with you?!? DO THEY KNOW WHO YOU ARE?!? I’m sorry that thing didn’t work out... sucks. Anyway, you got us still, right? And that ain’t not nuthin’ 🥹😎

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if animals have souls, pastries have thoughts!! ❤️

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I experienced similar grief right before the holidays over a job I was excited about, too. I had gotten caught up in the fantasy of what my year and the rest of my life would look and feel like if I had this job (and I was so close to getting it!). I struggle with dreaming and imagining, so for that rare moment to go *poof* after I got the news, I'm now floundering, feeling lost and a little silly that I'd been so invested in something that was 50/50 chance.

I love how you closed your essay on ambiguous loss; I'm trying to internalize that this vulnerability is brave, and that it will lead to other opportunities. I'll eventually re-attempt Odyssey Planning (from the book Designing Your Life), so I can try to develop a possibility mindset, but it requires a paradigm shift that I'm not sure I'm ready for.

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thank you for sharing and i hope you don’t feel ashamed to have dreamed the life you wanted even if you’re being redirected into another opportunity! i often share that same impulse, it’s almost like we got caught being optimistic but that positivity and natural hopefulness is what makes you so unique and a trait many people wish they had too! ❤️

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Needed this today. Thanks. And I'm very sorry about the job.

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i love you 🫶🫶🫶🫶

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You are an amazing thinker and feeler of whats in my old heart about all that is good, and all that I wished to be good. I'm 87 in April, a widower, living alone on the 4th deck of a no elevator apartment complex. It's getting harder and harder to manage the climb and loneliness, but you bring joy to the heart with your passion for the heart. Carry on, beautiful Lady!

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