Day 4: Oil pulling & stress management

Disclaimer: Tonight was wine night. (My husband broke out a bottle from storage and claimed, "What are we waiting for? The end of the world? Ha!") I've had my two glass allocation. So gloves' off. I make no promises for an edited post.

Tensions are ramping up. CA order to "stay at home" and projections that 56% of CA will get virus just jacked up everyone's blood pressure. Sip of wine, please. How to manage it? It's not easy but here's what I propose:

1. Jam 12 puzzle pieces of that 1000 piece puzzle into place. There's catharsis in the process of bringing order to a random world. Hate puzzles? Try rearranging the socks in your drawer, the cans in your pantry or the shoes in the hallway. Organization binds anxiety. Gives a lady the ability to control her physical environment even though other things are uncontrollably out of her control. As of 9:30 pm, my shirts are hung in rainbow color formation in my closet, all throw pillows are aligned perpendicularly on the sofa and the glass containers filled with dinner leftovers are stacked tall, big to small in the refrigerator. A little OCD goes a long way.

2. Focus on the positive. The silver lining to all these crazy clouds? Greenhouse emissions are down. Kindness between strangers is up. Plus, when all the Senators and Congress-folk return home for their quarantines, they'll get first-hand experience with robo-callers. More meaningful legislation is bound to follow. I moved an old chair into the den and voila, look who has a new corner office? No commute means time for afternoon walks around the 'hood, which means my favorite pair of thin jeans, circa 2012, just might come out of storage. Virtual offices are shockingly time-efficient. If I mute my cellphone, I can make a fresh cup of coffee, throw a load of laundry in the dryer and pee without missing a beat of the meeting. I say, when you've given a lemon, make a lemon-juice bleach for the facial hair you can no longer get waxed at the salon. That's positive perspective'ing.

3. Which brings me to oil-pulling. Oil what? Pulling. A friend, who's a friend of a celebrity, told me about it. Basically, you buy fancy mouth oil from Amazon, swish it around your mouth for 8 minutes in the morning, spit it out into the trash can ('cause you don't wanna clog your sink) and, voila, you'll have a detoxed mouth, brighter teeth and maybe, a whole bunch of other unsubstantiated health goodness'es.

How long have I been doing it?

3 days.

Is it working?

I have no idea

Why am I doing it?

'Cause what's another word for pandemic? Crisis!

And what's the positive perspective of a crisis? It's an opportunity to change up one's life, do new things, break old habits, make new ones. Swishing coconut & sesame oil in my mouth? It's the easiest (dare I say dumbest?) way to push myself out of my comfort zone; to get comfortable doing something different than normal.

The only certainty in times of uncertainty is that things are going to change.