Amazing things started happening when I stopped wearing a bra in the house.
There is little I can control at this point of my life. My internal weather man is bananas. The gray hairs, the sag, and what the actual f* is happening to the skin under my arms?
For most of my life, I've been strapping these weights in like Charles Manson in Quentin State. The grand canyon runs through both shoulders. They were never welcome, always a source of shame. It wasn't until I nursed the first of my four kids that I thought, ok, I get it.
But since then, they've gone back, but not in the physical sense, to being part of the design, more an appendage to be squashed by Mammogram Terminator once a year, biopsied and prayed over, before returning to their permanent utility, crumb catchers.
It is a moment of bliss when that bra comes off at night. If you know, you know. TBH, sometimes I didn't bother and slept in not just makeup, but an underwore bra!. There were always teenaged boys at home (yeah, those same kids who spent their first year on the very area we pretend does not exist on my person) so I kept the Bali on until they were in college.
Some people call this time of life empty nest. I call it empty breast.
Sorry neighbors and husband and people who show up at my door unexpectedly. Sorry kids who show up to borrow the car or do laundry. These weighted blankets never brought me comfort, or safety, but they did for the most important people in my life.
Now it's time for me to be one of the most important people in my life, and damn it, I'm flying comfort class.
Amazing things can happen when society embraces remote work.
Looking back on the olden times of 40 hours in the office + 10 hours of commuting feels like looking back on a prison sentence. The 2010s was a grind! Once the main working day was done, like Andy in the Shawshank Redemption, I continued working on my own little project (blogging) and chiseled away at the walls of the corporation which confined me.
After 4 years of blogging on the side, I finally built around $1,200 a month coming in as side hustle money. I was close to freedom. If I could just double that then I would quit my job and begin an exciting life as a digital nomad and gallivant through South America.
But then something happened. Overnight, my day job suddenly became not only tolerable... but dare I say enjoyable! March 2020 marked the dawn of the Work-From-Home revolution. Freedom rang from coast to coast. I remember my boss leaving me a voicemail that Friday in mid-March when the spread started in America and they told us we’re all gonna work from home for 1 week next week to see how things go. I didn’t set foot in an office for another 2 years. Fully remote from March 2020 to April 2022. The empire has stuck back with the “hybrid model” and I will be ready to lead the charge with phase 2 of the Great Resignation when the economy inevitably picks up :)
I think this has changed my life. Yesterday I was able to go one day without a destructive behavior. Today I will imagine myself at the end of the day without this destructive behavior. Thanks for this beautiful piece
Thank you Bridget for sharing your story of experience, strength and hope with the Beyond Parody universe. You're so incredibly right - amazing things DO happen when we're finally able to surrender and stop fighting everything and everyone, to trust in a higher power to keep us sober just for today. Soon the days turn to weeks, the weeks to months and the months to years, then one day we look in the mirror and don't recognize the wonderful new version of ourselves who's looking back at us. We don't know when it happened, but it happened!! I'm grateful everyday for the first day when I finally realized that in surrender I could find victory. PS - I love, LOVE the "Factory Settings" podcast you do with your husband and have shared it with several men I sponsor, along with other friends in my sober tribe.
Amazing things started happening when I stopped wearing a bra in the house.
There is little I can control at this point of my life. My internal weather man is bananas. The gray hairs, the sag, and what the actual f* is happening to the skin under my arms?
For most of my life, I've been strapping these weights in like Charles Manson in Quentin State. The grand canyon runs through both shoulders. They were never welcome, always a source of shame. It wasn't until I nursed the first of my four kids that I thought, ok, I get it.
But since then, they've gone back, but not in the physical sense, to being part of the design, more an appendage to be squashed by Mammogram Terminator once a year, biopsied and prayed over, before returning to their permanent utility, crumb catchers.
It is a moment of bliss when that bra comes off at night. If you know, you know. TBH, sometimes I didn't bother and slept in not just makeup, but an underwore bra!. There were always teenaged boys at home (yeah, those same kids who spent their first year on the very area we pretend does not exist on my person) so I kept the Bali on until they were in college.
Some people call this time of life empty nest. I call it empty breast.
Sorry neighbors and husband and people who show up at my door unexpectedly. Sorry kids who show up to borrow the car or do laundry. These weighted blankets never brought me comfort, or safety, but they did for the most important people in my life.
Now it's time for me to be one of the most important people in my life, and damn it, I'm flying comfort class.
Amazing things can happen when society embraces remote work.
Looking back on the olden times of 40 hours in the office + 10 hours of commuting feels like looking back on a prison sentence. The 2010s was a grind! Once the main working day was done, like Andy in the Shawshank Redemption, I continued working on my own little project (blogging) and chiseled away at the walls of the corporation which confined me.
After 4 years of blogging on the side, I finally built around $1,200 a month coming in as side hustle money. I was close to freedom. If I could just double that then I would quit my job and begin an exciting life as a digital nomad and gallivant through South America.
But then something happened. Overnight, my day job suddenly became not only tolerable... but dare I say enjoyable! March 2020 marked the dawn of the Work-From-Home revolution. Freedom rang from coast to coast. I remember my boss leaving me a voicemail that Friday in mid-March when the spread started in America and they told us we’re all gonna work from home for 1 week next week to see how things go. I didn’t set foot in an office for another 2 years. Fully remote from March 2020 to April 2022. The empire has stuck back with the “hybrid model” and I will be ready to lead the charge with phase 2 of the Great Resignation when the economy inevitably picks up :)
Thank you Bridget, I need to hear that.
I think this has changed my life. Yesterday I was able to go one day without a destructive behavior. Today I will imagine myself at the end of the day without this destructive behavior. Thanks for this beautiful piece
Thank you Bridget for sharing your story of experience, strength and hope with the Beyond Parody universe. You're so incredibly right - amazing things DO happen when we're finally able to surrender and stop fighting everything and everyone, to trust in a higher power to keep us sober just for today. Soon the days turn to weeks, the weeks to months and the months to years, then one day we look in the mirror and don't recognize the wonderful new version of ourselves who's looking back at us. We don't know when it happened, but it happened!! I'm grateful everyday for the first day when I finally realized that in surrender I could find victory. PS - I love, LOVE the "Factory Settings" podcast you do with your husband and have shared it with several men I sponsor, along with other friends in my sober tribe.