STORIES of REST and UNREST, PART 1
This month marks a complicated anniversary for me: five years since my rough initiation into a long and life-altering health odyssey, which I didn’t know I’d survive, and at times, whether I even wanted to anymore.
Five years of bodily polycrisis (a microcosm of the larger ecological and systemic polycrisis playing out in the world around me), have me reflecting on my stories of rest and unrest, the ways I live my life today, and the small victories that remind me how much has changed and how much I have transformed.
How I Learned To Stop Hating a Simple Somatic Tool
I used to hate orienting.
In simplest terms, orienting is the practice of slowly looking around. That’s it. Orienting can also include noticing sounds, textures, smells, or tastes.
But when I first tried it (and many times afterward), I didn’t like it. When I moved my gaze around my space, all I could see were things that required my labor, like a cobweb in the ceiling corner or a pile of unfolded laundry. If I were healthy and well, this would have just been annoying.
But since I was very sick and very unwell, I didn’t have the energy for any of these tasks. And I had been without energy and often confined to my bedroom for so long that gazing around that space only reminded me of how long I had been stuck there.