I'm now an indoorsy person
Jun. 5th, 2019 03:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Due to smoke in the air from Canadian wildfires, and pollen so thick it's coating my windshield, I closed the apartment windows. I'm sad about it, and have been thinking often of this insightful article:
Lyme Disease Changed my Relationship with the Outdoors, by Blair Braverman
https://www.outsideonline.com/2395555/lyme-disease-changed-my-relationship-outdoors
I became acutely aware of how much life outdoors revolves around tolerable discomfort, or threading a thin line to avoid that discomfort...
But now that I was sick, I couldn’t absorb any discomfort. I needed everything around me to be perfect: the right temperature, the right light, the right soft surfaces and quiet voices. Houses are highly efficient shrines to comfort, and when you’re sick, it seems like that external comfort is all you have. Just as my life as a healthy person had been defined by time outside, being indoors became a symbol of being unwell to me.
Lyme Disease Changed my Relationship with the Outdoors, by Blair Braverman
https://www.outsideonline.com/2395555/lyme-disease-changed-my-relationship-outdoors
I became acutely aware of how much life outdoors revolves around tolerable discomfort, or threading a thin line to avoid that discomfort...
But now that I was sick, I couldn’t absorb any discomfort. I needed everything around me to be perfect: the right temperature, the right light, the right soft surfaces and quiet voices. Houses are highly efficient shrines to comfort, and when you’re sick, it seems like that external comfort is all you have. Just as my life as a healthy person had been defined by time outside, being indoors became a symbol of being unwell to me.
no subject
Date: 2019-06-05 07:54 pm (UTC)Now I've read the link and
Date: 2019-06-05 08:08 pm (UTC)She's a fluent writer and she's got lots of backlog and this sentiment made me weepy
...independence is still dependence on luck & gifts: the ability to rely on your own health & strength & mind, rather than leaning on the strength of those around you. In time, my way outdoors again was simple: I had help. A lot of help.
Re: Now I've read the link and
Date: 2019-06-05 08:45 pm (UTC)