Prepare without Panic

I only have one pine tree available at the moment—half a portal—but I will start to… 

Prepare without Panic.
That was one of the invitations extended by Fall Equinox.

Thinking about how much of my life has been at the thrift store (a lot!), I want to Be Prepared for what I might face when I quit my job without a new one lined up. 

Maybe get some plans in place, 
start to think realistically about what's ahead —after I step through two pine trees in Montana next week. What do I want to invite into my life,  or to come along with me?

Yeah, what?

With leaving the thrift store, I’m facing big changes in stuff that’s on automatic pilot right now:
physical activity, 
social engagement, 
meaningful work, 
scheduled time.

I say changes, but unless I replace them, some will be losses.

I don't want to rush to get a new job, but I better get some schedule in place or I'm liable to drift into listlessness.
That's the main thing to prepare for, guard for.

I'm going to muse out loud here, and see what I come up with...

Oh, that is a very good idea, Fresca!
--says Encouraging Squirrel, below, from an exhibit of State Fair crop art on display now at the Art Museum 

I. Plan new built-in exercise

I'm not entirely unhappy about this change: 
People are always getting hurt at work--repetitive stress injuries, bad backs, plantar fasciitis, etc.-- and I've been worried that I might hurt myself again. 

The huge plus was that it was automatic.
I wasn't making myself "exercise"--I was biking to work, and doing light physical labor 20 hours/week.
That's a lot to replace.

 I haven't checked my Medicare plan--I think I get free senior classes at a gym, and that would be great!

OK. I will... 

1. Check out Medicare gym membership.

2. Bike to the lake every day, and walk around the bird sanctuary there.

I've been wanting to sketch there too, so do that too?

BELOW: Sketch of plant tendrils from a guided walk in the bird sanctuary this summer. 
I love tendrils--they're so curly beautiful.
They also look like habits--so deceptively little and soft, but binding like wire.

_______________________
Plan to Replace Casual Socializing

I'm not losing close friends. My coworkers are  are pretty neat people, and I enjoy them. But they come and they go. Connections don't build-up. Or, they don't translate to out-of-work friendship. 
  
Was it James Baldwin who said you're not a friend if you haven't been in the other person's kitchen?

Several coworkers have come to my place--for my birthday party or bonfire; 
but only one coworker has had me to her house in recent years--volunteer Abby.
Even then, I wouldn't say we’re close friends. More like friendly chums.

Chum. Where's that word from?

chum (n) "friend, intimate companion," 
1680s, originally university slang for "roommate," an alternative spelling of cham,  short for chamber(mate); 
the formation is typical of the late-17c. fondness for clipped words.

People in the late-1600s were fond of clipped words?
Isn't that curious... Ever since interacting with AI, I've noticed how much language is repeated patterns.

Deep friendship is when you go beyond expected exchanges of speech. Most of Abby and my exchanges are rote--a lot about her home repair projects and what her grown family is doing.
Still, she's supportive in practical ways--four years ago, she helped me move. She gives me rides, and she hung my curtain rods.

Anyway, it's not friendship I'm losing but casual connection, joshing around with coworkers, chit-chatting with customers.
This is a big loss.
If I don't get a job right away, I need to volunteer or be part of some groups.

I could go back to the needlework group, though I'm not doing any needlework since I stopped making God's eyes...
But, I do want to start working on my mending pile.
Let's see--the first Satruday of the month is October 3--my first day unemployed, and the day before I leave for Montana.
OK!

I will do that:
3. Attend Needlework Group, Sat. Oct. 3
____________________

And... I just now stopped blogging and wrote an inquiry to the contact person for an OA group that meets in this neighborhood on Mondays. (OA = Overeaters Anonymous--a twelve-step group.)
I went to OA twenty years ago.
 It depends on who shows up as to how any 12-step feels. It can feel ickily Christian'y...

I'm always interested in getting in better, more loving relationship with food, and away from the grippy tendrils of processed foods---
But I wouldn't try OA again except I read in Michael Pollan's book 
How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence (2018) 
that Bill W, the founder of AA, didn't model the 12 steps on Christianity --
he modeled it on his experience of liberation on psychedelics:

"Bill W credited his own sobriety to a mystical experience he had on belladonna, a plant-derived alkaloid with hallucinogenic properties that was administered to him at Towns Hospital in Manhattan in 1934. 

Few members of AA realize that the whole idea of a spiritual awakening leading one to surrender to a ‘higher power’—a cornerstone of Alcoholics Anonymous—can be traced to a psychedelic drug trip.” 

That angle intrigues me--if I approach it that way, I might really like it.
I'll try this Monday, if I hear back from the coordinator. (Or even if not--anyone can go.)

UPDATE: The contact person wrote a nice note back—“you’re welcome wherever you are on your journey.”

Formulaic (language pattern), but not meaningless— it translates to a sort of spiritual/ new agey vibe that I’m fine with. Subtext: “we are not a judgey 12-step group”. (Some are.)

So… 4. Check out OA tomorrow  

More to come…