The hilarious impossibility of asking for one thing
Oh, hi friends!
How good are you at asking for things?
I would rather do anything else. Asking a question in a store, asking a stranger for directions, asking a favor of anyone…yeah, nope, I will exhaust every other option first before opening my mouth.
But because everything takes practice (it does, doesn’t it?) perhaps on a random Monday in June, it would be nice to ask for one thing.
Just one.
Maybe you’ll contact that friend who said she’d read your proposal, or ask your boss about taking next Friday off, or ask for forgiveness if you make a mistake.
Ask for one thing — whatever that one thing is you need.
“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will.”
—Jane Eyre
(This quote was referenced in Gretchen Rubin’s excellent interview with author Caroline McGraw, who also recommends spending 15 minutes a day doing nothing…what an idea!)
The Things You Love Are Coming Back
We saw Blindness last week — it’s a “socially distanced theatrical experience” at the Daryl Roth Theatre. Basically, it’s theater without in-person actors. (Juliet Stevenson voices the narrator and narrative through headphones, and the show is adapted by Simon Stephens and based on the novel by José Saramago.)
For some reason I was skeptical at first (“I want actors! I don’t care about light shows!”) but it proved me very wrong. I was incredibly moved and it brought me back to that place I missed so much, the place of experiencing, together, something new.
You might not be interested in theater, but hopefully this is a reminder that the things you love are coming back, too. Maybe they’re already here.
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Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara