Self-Soothing Homework

 it’s been a hot minute since I’ve written a syllable here.  Sorry for that.  My life has been moving at the speed of light this year.  So fast, I was complaining to telling my coach the other day that I didn’t have time to process everything that’s going on as it happens. I pronounced myself emotionally constipated, for lack of a better description.

Among her recommendations was this:  Sing “The 59th Street Bridge Song” to myself…really S-L-O-W-L-Y.  (And let’s just skip right over the fact that, yes, I am old enough to know that song, and know it by name, shall we?  Thanks.)

It’s an infectious little song, under two-minutes long when Simon and Garfunkel do it, but an easy one to slow down and add a little funky groove to without losing any of the infectious quality. As soon as she mentioned it, it lodged itself in my brain and has been there ever since.

Last night, I was so exhausted, I went to my room at 8:20pm, intending to relax and catch up on some of the shows I’d recorded, but as soon as I got horizontal, I was OUT. COLD. Dead to the world.

I woke up to my light and TV still on, with cramps so bad, I was sure I was being sawed in half. I went to the bathroom, came back and crawled back in bed after peeking out the window and seeing that it was still dark outside. I tried and tried to go back to sleep, but couldn’t. I was WIDE awake…at 4:39am. UGH.

I gave up and got dressed and wandered out here to my office, railing against the idea of starting client work while it was still dark outside. Then, it occurred to me that I had also promised her that I would take time to think and write about what was going on in my world as a way to process it all. But…I didn’t feel like writing.

The song was STILL playing in my brain, so in a flash of brilliant self-care, I gave myself permission to “play” and create a video using pictures and that song. But first, I had to find a way to slow it down without making Simon and Garfunkel sound ridiculous. I entertained the idea of recording myself singing it…for about 3 seconds…until I remembered the hour and nixed that idea with a quickness. So, to iTunes I went, searched by song title and what to my wondering eyes would appear, but a slow version recorded by Kathy Troccoli on an album called, “Heartsongs”. BINGO!

I spent my early morning creating this little video using pictures of people I love. Now, when I need to soothe myself, I can not only “hear” the song in my head, I can “see” this little video. And, of course, I can play it anytime I want. I’m sure it will mean more to me than anyone else, but you might enjoy it, so I’m including it here.