STORMIN
Please be kind, unwind (no apologies to Blockbuster Video. The brick and mortar proprietors of Netflix and Chill before Netflix and Chill became a thing and totally slam dunked them into the history books. No, I didn’t get paid extra for the basketball reference during March Madness season, but I should have.)
It’s now been just over two years since the beginning of the “plague”. [Editor’s Note: Stormin is aware that the pandemic isn’t classified as a plague, he just writes it that way to aggravate me.🤦♂]
And over those last two years many of us have spent a lot of time in solitude, working from home, eating out of to-go containers more times than we care to think about. Many of us have already left the couches and kitchen tables or other areas we were able to work at home from, and returned to working in offices, and many more are in the process and will be joining us soon. But in the meantime, this has left many feeling isolated and alone, many with no one to care about us, except us.
When I first started writing this one of the driving factors was listening to a story on “road rage” being on the rise. And so is “sky rage” (“air rage”???). No pun(s) intended, but it made me giggle…just a little.
Let me tell you. I’ve done my research. Just kidding. I know, I know. To paraphrase The Princess Bride, those words do not mean what you think they do (Spoiler Alert: Wesley is the Dread Pirate Roberts — c’mon, the movie is 34 years old now — not sorry).
Also, I really did do the research and we’ve all seen the news, and the fact that more people have been duct taped to airline seats than at any time in history should be plenty of proof and is way easier to understand than me throwing random stats at you. By the way, this may come as a surprise to some, but while it may sound like it, it is not “Duck Tape” (although there is one brand that has taken on that name for its version of the product). Also, I checked, and as far as I know, the Wright brothers were not taped into their first plane and duct tape was not invented until 1942.
Anywho, I digress. So whatever situation you currently find yourselves in now…maybe you’re struggling. Or maybe that person that just tried to make a quick u-turn in front of you that turned into a full on three point u-turn that brought you and the 500 cars behind you to a dead stop, in rush hour traffic, is struggling and all every single 502 of you want to do is get back to whatever your safe place is…
So this is just a friendly little PSA from Stormin and the folks at Pinnapos to hopefully get you to take that little saying to heart. Please be kind to yourselves and others and just unwind.
Whatever you are feeling in the moment, just take a breath. and when you do get to your safe place:
- Take a nap (readers of my last article know how much of a fan of naps I have become.)
- If you didn’t read my last (or last five) article(s), you could do that (yes, I know this isn’t about me. I’m just recommending it for Mindfulness purposes. As far as you know.)
- Take a nice walk.
- Play with your pet.
- Go to the gym.
- Wash your car.
- Call your parents, or as the meme goes, call your “strong friend” (because, well, you just never know).
- Or just breathe. Meditate if it’s your thing. If not, but you’d like to try it out, I’m certain there are many meditation and mindfulness YouTube videos to help calm whatever savage beast lies within.
Again, just take a minute, be kind to yourself and the people around you, and unwind.
Oh, and if you’ve tried everything and your struggle still seems too great for you to overcome by yourself, you’re never alone. You can call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255. If you Google it, there is also a chat/text option that you can just click from the search results. If you know someone else who is struggling, just let them know that you care. If you don’t feel you’re the right person to reach out to them to help, just forward this article to them with a note about the funny/dumb guy that wrote it, and wrote about people being duct taped in their seats on airplanes. Disparage me in any way you have to to get them to get help. I’m a big boy. I can handle it.
Next time, maybe I’ll try to fix world peace. I’m kidding of course…as far as you know.
Freelance writer, satirist, wordsmith, air frying adventurer, and the right person to know if there's a zombie apocalypse.
