When despair grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
— Wendell Berry, The Peace of Wild Things
After my accident, I should have been focusing on checking myself for injuries, getting important documents out of my car, and dealing with the panic attack. Instead, I could only worry that I would become the next statistic that night, the next woman in the wrong place at the wrong time, the rationalization for all my fears.
Read MoreI hate change. I am a creature of habit. I like routines. I don't like being thrown off my rhythm.
They all mean the same thing: people like me don't like their world shifting. We have, or at least have in our minds, homeostasis where we are. We are safe where we are. We won't get hurt where we are. Even if the change is positive, it's unknown, and that is not security.
Read More
