My Least Favorite Month

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The new year is supposed to be full of promise and hope. A fresh start. A time to reset and improve one’s life. But some years, like this one, it feels like my life has come to a screeching halt. I got Covid for the first time. I’m grateful that I dodged it for three years, but then just when I had plans for the new year, boom!, everything stopped.

I really can’t complain. It’s just like having a bad cold, not like the terrible flu Barry and I both had in January 2019. That laid us up for almost the entire month. And complaints aren’t really in order since I’ve only been sick like this about four or five times in my entire life. And yet, being who I am, I wonder what the purpose of illness could possibly be. Why do we do it to ourselves? If you have any theories about that, I’d love to hear them.

In any case, that’s why there was no post last week. I wasn’t able to sit at the computer and compose complete sentences. 

Even if I’m perfectly healthy at the beginning of any given year, January is still my least favorite month. I have never acknowledged that before. Barry and I were just talking about it and we think part of why we don’t really like January is because the warm feelings and beautiful decorations of the holiday season are over and we have to put the house back into it’s regular order. It’s a big let down. And then there’s the light to dark ratio. I love sunshine. Maybe we’d feel better if we rearrange the furniture or something to enliven our feelings about the house. That might do the trick.

The thing I’m going to try to do is just get on with the work I always have waiting for me every day. Being creative always helps me feel energized. 

This Made Me Laugh

I thought I was finished with this post when I came across this in my inbox. I get a newsletter called “Today in Books,” and this was the headline for January 10, “Florida School District Bans the Dictionary”. I burst out laughing. A list of books banned in Escambia County, Florida was released as part of a lawsuit against the county by PEN America, Penguin Random House Books, and sure enough they have banned five editions of the dictionary along with other books most of which are reference books, like eight editions of the encyclopedia. 

After reading that news and seeing the list, I thought, I’m going to institute a, This Made Me Laugh, segment to my blog. I can generally find something that makes me laugh either in the news or in one of the newsletters I get. This little news item belongs in the “Thanos Effect” category.

One of my recent podcast guests, Mack Griffin, Episode 87 November 8, 2023,“Characters are the Most Important Part of the Story”, coined the phrase. The Thanos Effect, (as in Thanos of the MCU Infinity Saga) indicates situations where a finite being believes they are the only ones with the solution to some real or imagined problem that humanity, or all beings in the Universe face. I think whoever started banning books was suffering from The Thanos Effect. They feel fear by what they have read, or assume is in the book, and think the only way to alleviate their fear is to eradicate the offending item from the world. Sorry, folks it doesn’t work that way. As Frank Herbert wrote in Dune, “Fear is the mind killer”. The only way to get rid of fear is to manage it internally.

Here are Mack’s Story-Power episode, and our conversation for Patreon. He’s a story whisperer and I enjoyed talking with him for both recordings.

I say let’s look for things that make us laugh and feel good this year. I’m tired of news and entertainment that is contentious and leaves me feeling hopeless. My goal is to feel as good as possible and work to feeling happier this year.

Here are some feel good story suggestions:

Lessons in Chemistry Bonnie Garmus both the book and the TV series on Apple +

Ted Lasso all three seasons also on Apple +

Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier, Arthur Brooks and Oprah Winfrey

Finding Your Roots TV series with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on PBS

All Creatures Great and Small TV series, just started season 4 on PBS

What are your favorite feel good books, movies, and TV series? I’d like to know.

Here’s to a great 2024 for all of us, even though some of us are getting a slow start.

Welcome new followers. Thanks for reading, liking, and commenting.

Blessings,

Lucinda Sage-Midgorden © 2024

Story-Power on Patreon and Apple Subscriptions

I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast, Patreon Community, and Apple subscription so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. Patreon is $5 a month for content not found on the Story-Power podcast, or on my Sage Woman Blog. The Apple subscription is $3 a month, again with content not found on the Story-Power podcast. If you’re passionate about stories, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower. Or, you can add the subscription on Apple podcast where Story-Power is published.

The Space Between Time

Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards.

Have you ever experienced life shattering events? Yeah, after the last few years, most of us have. In The Space Between Time, Jenna Holden gets slammed by her fiancé walking out, her mother’s untimely death, and losing her job all in one week. But she receives unexpected help when she finds her three-times great-grandmother’s journals and begins the adventure of a lifetime.

The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version and sequel are published.

PodMatch

If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. I call them a dating service for podcasters. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a Story-Power chat.