Day Fifteen: Connect to Good Stories

I’d like to think that we’ve started to develop some sort of rhythm around here. We’re doing our school time, the grownups have figured out how to (mostly) get work done, we’re getting sleep, and with all the home cooking, we’ve been eating much healthier. We are all still driving each other crazy, but at least we know what we’re supposed to be doing when we’re driving each other crazy.

Most of the reason we’ve been getting on each other’s nerves is that we’re bored. Even with five people, two dogs, and one cat, we’re bored. Even with work and school and an entire room full of toys, we’re bored. We used to all go our separate ways during the day and then come back and share the interesting, frustrating, or downright hilarious things that we’d experienced. (One day the twins recounted how a kindergartner had gotten frustrated at recess and gone on a crotch-kicking spree as children ran in fear and recess aides tried to catch him. I laughed so hard I cried.)

We need to make sure that we’re still feeding our brain interesting stories. That can happen through books, movies, tv or even just retelling the good moments of the past. Revisit the stories you have loved, explore new stories that intrigue you. Remember that stories are how humans cope with complicated emotions and concepts. We bring them to life and then turn them over and over in our minds.

What stories are helping you right now?