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Poppy wants to live in a world where everyone's story matters, regardless of their income or way of life.

As a photographer, she's won ribbons at the county fair. As a spiritual seeker and writer, she's been featured in Jen Louden's The Life Organizer and once published an article at allthingsgirl.net.

When she's not writing or photographing her story, she can be found at her day job as a technology consultant, or at home snuggling her cats, or in the park, taking a walk with her husband.

Week 3

Week 3

Poppy Lochridge

RESISTANCE, CHANGE, WIND, REMORSE, FREEDOM, GRACE, CRAFT

Holy WOW that was a week.

If you’re reading this sometime in the future, Week 3 was the week the US shut down.

I loved these words this week, and in a better week, most likely would have spent some time reflecting on them. My schedule this week, however has looked like this:

  • Get up in the morning, do some spiritual reading (current selections are Mirabai Starr’s God of Love and Wild Mercy, and a little book about prayer for nonbelievers), followed by some journaling. Near the end of the week, I saw some exhortations for journalers to describe what’s happening, original sources for future historians, so I’ve tried to do some of that, but mostly it’s been wrestling with my own anxiety.

  • Fix breakfast with my husband, skip the news and read ONLY the handful of newsletters I’m subscribing to. I only feel a little guilty, but my level of anxiety right now means I can’t do news media. I’m reading and recommend: Heather Cox Richardson, Judd Legum’s Popular Information, Jason Kottke’s Noticing.

  • Shower, get dressed, drive to my office, where we are disinfecting everything regularly, staying 6 feet away from each other, and trying to minimize contact with clients. On the other hand, we offer IT support, and there’s been a LOT of work for IT folks, setting up remote work options. Oddly enough, when I sat down and calculated it, I only worked a little over 8 hours on the longest day last week - they all felt like 9 or 10 hour days.

  • When my brain was mushy enough that my approach to fixing things became “Thing no worky. Wonder why. Urg,” I took myself home, where a dance party was necessary to rejuvenate myself enough to fix dinner.

  • Find something that will make me laugh a little.

  • Sleep.

Ergo, not a lot of reflecting on words happened. With one exception: Grace.

I love this word, love this concept. Grace is that kindness which we have not earned. The example I use for Grace is two young women whom I love dearly. In their youth, they lived through experiences that no child should have to live in. I was not fully aware of it, and failed to protect them from it - and they love me anyway. That’s Grace, to me.

Moving On

Moving On
Week 2

Week 2