Day 3, Winter 2023, Mini 1000

Hi friends.

Today we will write 1000 words. Because we want to accomplish something. God, it feels good to get something done. So much unfinished business in our lives, and we just have to accept it — all the time. But here is a specific task we can complete, one that makes us feel a little more solid inside, more connected to our brains, wired, in tune, capable, productive. What if we see this all the way through to the end? Complete this task for the day, for this week, for the long haul. One thousand words.

A minor, embarrassing story: the other day I took off two thin gold chains I wear around my neck and placed them next to each other on a counter, and they somehow became completely entangled, as if they were two magnets drawn together and had somehow collapsed into each other. That night I spent a few hours nearly untangling them, put them down for just a second and somehow they became tangled all over again. The noise I made out loud alone in my house. I had to put the chains in the other room. I could not sleep with them near me.

The next day I started all over on them. I had decided I had to finish it then because if I didn’t, I would only have to do it another time. (Or worse, it would never get done at all.) Again, it took a long time, every second absolute hell, just me and the chains, I was completely lost in them. But the last three minutes of untangling them, when all the strands were loose and it was just a question of setting them free, and I could really see the finish line? One of the most pleasurable experiences of my life. The faint glint of the gold in the sunlight. The shimmer of completion. I never want to do that ever fucking again, I thought, but in the moment, at last, I appreciated the task.

Yesterday I woke up and thought, “You know what? I kind of miss untangling the gold chains now.” I’ll probably be on my deathbed, thinking about them.

It’s honestly the thing that keeps me steadiest, finishing things. A release, a relief, a reprieve, to write these words. Write today for that part of you that likes to get shit done.

Halfway mark. How we all doing?

If you ask me, I think you’re doing great.

Jami