'Or, not the body but through it: down and out and through'....
I love this piece Sarah, beautifully written... The way you've conceptualised the feelings, and the way it's constructed. And the overall insight. I will take this into my day, thank you.
This is a beautiful meditative piece with various threads, Sarah. Thank you.
As a young-ish looking Asian female - the 'Where are you from...no, where are you REALLY from?' questions have been repeatedly asked in various languages and contexts. They feel less offensive in French, though!
When coupled with 'What do you do?' or 'What do your parents do?' I, too, repeatedly remind myself that many people love to slap reductive labels in vague attempts to connect. I take secret delight in pointing out my older age, having my own business and the best bit - 'no, my parents don't own a takeaway they were both doctors.'
These days, if I'm on a chatty taxi ride, I start with a caregiver. It either deters or connects, but usually, there's a much more kindred human conversation that transcends social constructs.
Oh that sounds like a very wearing question to be repeatedly getting (and funny that it's less offensive in French!). I love what you say, that when you share you're a caregiver it can connect you and transcend barriers. I might try that!
The anecdote about the taxi driver really resonated and stayed with me, so relatable, I think many of us will have our own equivalents .
And, ooft, the reminder that autistic ppl have shorter life expectancy - that’s really starting to hit home as I approach 60, and think about the things I maybe won’t now do, the places I won’t get to see, as well as the younger-person things I didn’t / couldn't do because I was struggling to get by without a clue why, yet somehow optimistic that that would stop (I’d grow out of it?) and all things were possible in the long future . . . And that feeling of just being worn down by it all, so that even in good spells I can’t bounce back to where I once was, in terms of energy and capacity.
I love the image of being the whole hall / space we're in, and that's potentially really helpful.
'Or, not the body but through it: down and out and through'....
I love this piece Sarah, beautifully written... The way you've conceptualised the feelings, and the way it's constructed. And the overall insight. I will take this into my day, thank you.
Thanks Tamsin! I wrote it over a year ago now, and I'd forgotten about that taxi driver, so it was strange to come across it again.
This is a beautiful meditative piece with various threads, Sarah. Thank you.
As a young-ish looking Asian female - the 'Where are you from...no, where are you REALLY from?' questions have been repeatedly asked in various languages and contexts. They feel less offensive in French, though!
When coupled with 'What do you do?' or 'What do your parents do?' I, too, repeatedly remind myself that many people love to slap reductive labels in vague attempts to connect. I take secret delight in pointing out my older age, having my own business and the best bit - 'no, my parents don't own a takeaway they were both doctors.'
These days, if I'm on a chatty taxi ride, I start with a caregiver. It either deters or connects, but usually, there's a much more kindred human conversation that transcends social constructs.
Oh that sounds like a very wearing question to be repeatedly getting (and funny that it's less offensive in French!). I love what you say, that when you share you're a caregiver it can connect you and transcend barriers. I might try that!
The anecdote about the taxi driver really resonated and stayed with me, so relatable, I think many of us will have our own equivalents .
And, ooft, the reminder that autistic ppl have shorter life expectancy - that’s really starting to hit home as I approach 60, and think about the things I maybe won’t now do, the places I won’t get to see, as well as the younger-person things I didn’t / couldn't do because I was struggling to get by without a clue why, yet somehow optimistic that that would stop (I’d grow out of it?) and all things were possible in the long future . . . And that feeling of just being worn down by it all, so that even in good spells I can’t bounce back to where I once was, in terms of energy and capacity.
I love the image of being the whole hall / space we're in, and that's potentially really helpful.