Each morning, when she awakens in her bed. Her first thought is of her furry companion, who should be somewhere to the left of her, burrowed in the covers, her loyal friend, Charlie. She reaches across to find him in the darkness and pats him gently to alert him to the start of the day. Consistently without fail, he greets her with a wag and a kiss. In those brief moments, her mind attempts to interrupt her joy by reminding her that her time with him is limited. One day, he will be gone, and all things are transient. She quickly pushes the thought aside and tries to just enjoy the moment.
She rolls out of bed, which reaches her waist. Then she stiffens in pain from a twinge in her neck that had not been there the night before. Indeed, this is a sign of aging, she thought as she let Charlie outside. Waking up to aches and pains will be something you’ll need to get used to, she said. What a pessimistic way to start the day, she mused and then forced herself to remember that everything is transient. Perhaps, the ache from the kink in her neck will be gone later today or after a good night’s sleep.
It is still dark outside; her alarm was set to get her up at 4 am. All the best books on habits proclaim that an early start is the best way to achieve great results. Getting off work early is also a nice benefit of this schedule. However, waking up before the sun definitely feels unnatural. This fact is also transient; soon, it will be spring, and the dawn will have earlier visiting hours.
Every morning there is this tug of war in her brain about wanting to eat but feeling she should wait to be true to intermittent fasting. Most days, food wins out. Breakfast is, after all, the most important meal of the day. If only her dieting wasn’t transient, she would be much farther in her weight loss journey.
She confines herself to her chair and attempts to focus on one of several activities ranging from reading, writing, studying, or on less productive days, watching television. Her mind wonders as it tends to do and reviews her belly that hangs over her shorts in absent-minded disdain. Instantly making her regret and chastise her decision to eat. The love for herself and for her body is most definitely transient.
After she can no longer procrastinate, she treks the short distance to her home office and flips on the monitors. Giving thanks that she does not have to trudge the traffic-filled roads to an uncomfortable office building somewhere. This gratitude for working from home is one of the few things that is never transient.
Cover Photo by Marc Sendra Martorell on Unsplash
Shaynanigans 