2. ritual

Rituals are the fabric of life, don’t you think? Here, let me explain. I have that universally human curse of craving control over things that can’t possibly be controlled. Take, for instance, the weather (let’s not even open the can of words that is the current dismal state of the world). Last I checked, the weather doesn’t give a damn about what I want to wear that day or whether I’m ready for the season to change. 

So, if not control, then coping. What more are rituals than self-concocted antidotes to the unpredictability of each day? I have very little idea of where I’ll be or how our world will look in six months, but I do know this: in the morning I will rise, take the dog for a walk, make coffee and breakfast, read, then get ready while listening to a podcast. Noteworthy though this routine may not be, here is what cannot be underestimated: the comfort found in doing a series of things without thinking. With winter drawing nigh, I realized the other day the need for another simple routine to bookend the day. It could be anything, really, but tonight taking a walk, then fixing a cocktail, lighting candles, and sitting down with a novel for the length of a record felt absolutely soul-nourishing. Control over the looming of winter I have not, but an antidote I have.