I can’t even tell you what this last astrological storm has been like. For my husband, who deals- by his own choice- with 100% of life’s practical matters it has been one disaster after another, bordering on the catastrophic. It is a level 6 hurricane and we are still huddled inside the house waiting to see what happens. Will we be crushed alive screaming in pain as the life slowly slips from our eyes? (Channeling my father now.) Time will tell.
For me, however, it has been a time of empowermints as though the threat of ruin has given me wings. I’ve managed to do things I thought I was incapable of doing. And it’s been really fun. Where do I begin? I figured out how to open a bank account. I figured out how to ride a bus. I figured out how to get a library card. I figured out how to put buttons on my site encouraging you to slide me bits of money under the table. I figured out how to fill out government forms. I learned what bills are and some of the things you can do with them. I figured out how to set up an ebay account and sell things. A book has sold, so tomorrow I will figure out how to buy packing supplies and use the post office. It’s almost like I’ve figured out how to figure things. I see a problem and muscles start to move in my head. A lightbulb has gone on.
I’ve always felt so helpless. I don’t know why. I would just stare at practical things unable to comprehend what they were and how I should respond. It made me feel ashamed because I assumed people would believe I was being intentionally pathetic as a way of forcing them to help me. So I never asked for help and lived within my limitations.
Now that has changed. I spent the whole bus ride asking the driver practical questions on how busses work. I asked the librarians practical matters about other buildings located downtown. Every person I meet, I try to extract as much practical info from them as I can without seeming weird.
After about 5 days of pure practicality however today I hit a wall and was unable to move. Do you think the more practical you become, the heavier you get until eventually you can’t move at all? Could this be God’s way of keeping humans from becoming so practical we can interfere with his plans? Can this practicality streak continue, or is it just a temporary spike from which I will once again descend into a pool of helplessness?
I don’t know. My thoughts on practicality are two-fold. On the one hand, it is just practical to be practical. It gives you more options in the practical realms. On the other hand, the weird part is, despite the limitations in my life caused by impracticality, I feel free. Like my life has meaning. I’ve been talking to a lot of people recently. Some seem to go so far as to feel that if you don’t have your own bank account and car you aren’t really alive. I don’t feel that way. I think a person (but hopefully not me) can live just as meaningful an existence from a prison or mental institution as they can driving around in a pickup truck & taking yearly vacations.
It may be that these wings of practicality are paper wings that won’t last forever. After all- at least according to astrology- my life’s purpose is in the House of Imprisonment and Mental Institutions. I like to think that is metaphorical, meaning I find my true wings from looking within myself.
Oh! A practical idea just occurred to me! Would you like to know what your life purpose is and where you can find your wings? If so, slip me some sweet sweet money and I’ll tell you. Money is the first principle of Practicality, the principle upon which all other principles depend. In fact, it will probably be my success or failure in gaining money that will determine if this practical streak continues, or if my library card just sits rotting in my new wallet as the light slowly fades from his eyes….
P.S. My Dad. When I was a kid he loved to tell me about people dying and crying and screaming in agony as the awareness of impending doom entered their mind. He also liked to sing me songs about puppies being ground into sausage as he was putting me to sleep and then he would rock me as I cried in horror.
That is how a person becomes a Scorpio.
6 replies on “The Grapes of Practicality”
Well darn it, if this just isn’t inspiring!
I was thinking today about some people’s measure of success. Perhaps they pity me, think I’m a loser, I can’t drive and I hardly ever have a job. But at least I’m not a phoney bologna! And if I care about stuff it’s not just because it’s cool or because I’m supposed to. I do what I want and that’s not a bad thing. Anyhoo, thanks for sharing. Your personal success will keep building, I just know it.
Thank you so much Thorney for being in my life.
I love your “empowermints”! You’ve made a lot of mints along the way recently, and you will make more! So awesome!
You are carving a way in this world “Julien” style! Making your signature mark, extracting everything you can from “impracticality”. Who would be so intuitive as to tap into something like this? Yes, you, a Scorpio and a very wise one.
You can add more to the landscape of life walking, using crypto or cash, a library card, and bus transportation than those in their truck ignoring real humanity and becoming weakened by lack of movement in their joints and mind. The brain is used much better when one has many things to navigate and engage in vs just a road and crazy drivers. It’s stressful as hell, it’s is a nerve wracking situation that sucks your brain into a dry desert where you want to pour gasoline in the entire road and as you would say “”watch it explode”. I try to avoid it, and driving.
Gosh, your dad, he had some real strange ideas of how to communicate to a child. How we survive, many of us, is a mystery. But that we do. I imagine he made sure cupcakes had real spiders on top.
I’m so excited for you. Keep moving toward yourself, that’s what you’re doing.
Omg you are hilarious! I wish I knew how to make crying laugh emojis on this. Thank you for all the open mindedness & enthusiasm you provide.
Julien you are brilliant and I agree with you. We do not need all the things they tell us we need and it is much lighter to be more child like than heavy and agonizing like a stern dangerous grown up. Be light be you and continue to flow. I love your writing it is beautiful just like you.
Thank you so much Monica.