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Today’s Daily Stoic writing prompt: How can I strengthen my Inner Citadel?

The only way to really be sure is to put those walls up to a challenge. Again, I’ve been calling this Siege Diaries, and that metaphor works here, too. How do I function in a world where the rules have changed, where many of the things I do for pleasure are not possible?

I certainly don’t take it personally. This is what so many of the people yelling about personal freedom seem to be doing. They can’t or won’t see beyond their own inconvenience.

Luckily, the signs are there that, at least where I live, such people are a tiny minority. But they are loud. I eagerly await the day where they are irrelevant.

Life is short. I’ve been dealt a pretty damned good hand. Spending my time whining about how things I cannot control are ruining my day doesn’t seem like a good use of that precious time.

*****
Day of Truth and Reconciliation speech went really well. One of the best things? The length was perfect. I also rejigged it this morning to focus on artwork and graphics, while using my prepared text to speak to the images on the screen. It was bothering me that I had one of those PowerPoints I swore I would never do, filled with nothing but text. Instead, I found some very powerful and/or artwork to include.

I also completed a project for this weekend: a text on birch bark. Incising it for the lettering was both easier and harder than expected, but I am super pleased with the results. Now, I just need to nail some pronunciations (as it is in Russian). I have already figured out I have been pronouncing my own name wrong. I really need to get back to my Russian language course.

A pin I ordered arrived today:

I also have looked at Saturday’s schedule and determined I can make a performance of Beethoven quartets in K-W. I really can’t pass up a chance to hear the Grosse Fugue and the Cavatina again. And the KW Chamber Music Society has scheduled a performance of Shostakovich’s Trio no. 2 in November. It’ll be just a couple of day after I get back from Montreal. Shostakovich performances have a tendency to clump, apparently.

I’m saying these things with more optimism lately. Case counts have plateaued and seem to be slowly dropping. Schools have now been open for over three weeks. While it’s not enough to further lift restrictions, you know, I can live with what we have for now. There’s still “an abundance of caution”, but we might be in a pattern we can hold in while we go that final distance to get closer to 90% vaccinated and while we wait for approval on the vax for the 5-12 group.

And I’ve signed on to be an event steward for a January event.