Sylvia's Journal

Something shifted today. Something big. The clouds receded and we can see the blue sky again. The acknowledgement that Biden is indeed the incoming president and will now have full access to the government’s dealings and resources led to a huge sigh of relief, despite the fact that this acknowledgement did not come from our current president. The poor election officials in Pennsylvania are doing their 3^rd recount in as many weeks.

Even though we are in a relatively good position (mostly retired, a heated comfortable home, a healthy nest egg and no small kids trying to be schooled), we have lived under constant stress the last four years, and especially this year with COVID to compound the antics of a pathological narcistic leader.  But such is the nature of constant stress: it fades into the background and becomes unnoticeable and one learns to live with it or ignore it. But stress claws itself into our bodies in ways that are not always obvious.

We had a few extra stresses this last year as well: there is the renovation (to facilitate ‘aging’ in place) that started in July and was supposed to be done by the end of September, with daily comings and goings of workmen and our downstairs living quarters a construction site.  And then there are the many tendon, joint, nerve and muscle issues of my lower extremities. As soon as my chiropractor has gotten one issue resolved, another takes its place. Axel deals with upper body issues, so together we have a fully functioning body, but only one, instead of two.

But with the Biden issue clearing up, so is the renovation, the end no longer in the far distant future. We have moved into our new bedroom, even though our master suite is not quite done with an unfinished bathroom that requires plumbers and electricians who are not showing up when we expect them.  It’s our private room during the night, but during the day we still share it with the workmen, so we have to be out and cover things with plastic before they arrive at 7 in the morning.

Our smart new bed was installed a couple of weeks ago. It is so smart that it can tell us all sorts of things about our bodies and sleep patterns if we care to know them: deep sleep and restless sleep, how often we wake up and exit the bed, heart and breathing rates and heart rate variability. Our heart variability rate (HRV) has been in the low range, explaining the low energy and sluggishness that we sometimes experience. 

I am wondering whether the good news about the release of funds and open the books to our incoming president will change some of the numbers.