making light in the dark

Today was a typical Houston winter day: rain all day long, chilly, damp, soupy.

The last time the weather was like this, I had errands to run. I didn’t really think about what to wear out and about all day, but given that colour has become a habit for me nowadays, I grabbed a relatively new, screaming pink sweater, and threw it on. I remember at some point, I ended up at a Whole Foods grocery store.

The guy behind the check-out grinned widely as I approached.

“Wow! That’s such a great colour!” he said.

I smiled back. “Thanks!”

“No, I mean, especially for today,” he continued. “It’s so grey out, and most people end up wearing grey or black on days like today. Your sweater totally boosted my mood. Thanks for wearing it.”

I thought of him this morning, as I got dressed. And even though I had nowhere to go today but my home office, I grabbed that pink sweater again.

These days there seems to be constant bad news in the media, and even though self-care dictates that I don’t watch a single second of it, I keep popping in to various news sites to scan headlines and feeling a bit discouraged by it all. Between environmental emergencies and disease outbreaks and elected officers who care more about preserving their power than serving the people who put them in power, I find myself battling constant “why bother?” thoughts. I mean, intellectually, I know the things I should do to keep going (I did a podcast episode about it, for heaven’s sake!), and I know you keep working toward good and light because it’s the right thing to do. But sometimes, man …

… sigh.

Anyway, I was wondering: when you’re working toward something good — whether it’s raising good children, or fighting against an injustice or fighting for justice — what are ways that you do to keep joy close at hand? What’s your screaming pink sweater?

Leave your answer in the comments. Let’s curate a list of ways we can keep making light for ourselves in the dark.

Soundtrack: We play the music by Ed Solo & Skool of Thought

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