In September, the very day that I decided that I would let go of teaching, the first symptoms hit of what I would now tentatively diagnose as an ulcer. I don't recall anyone talking about feeling as if they were getting an ulcer.

If I chose one metaphor for my life in the past year, it would be the snow globe. In general, everything has felt so shaken up, so topsy-turvy, but in a beautiful way (the kind of way where you might be tempted to shake it up again, just to watch it happen), and now the pieces seem to be slowly floating down into a slower space.

I wrote a bit ago about "the happy place." For the past week, I have noticed myself existing in "the grumpy place." I used to not understand why these moods would come upon me. Now I get why these times happen--it's a buildup of negative emotions that I'm not releasing in a healthy way, combined with not enough self-care.

Sometimes we are too focused on changes that are coming that we forget to be present in this moment, now.