Wide Angle of Tohickon – Photo: L. Weikel

Word Saturation

I’ve been noticing something odd about myself lately. I tend to be pretty self-reflective by nature. And by that I mean I revel in contemplating the bigger questions in life. And I treasure those occasions when I have the time and space to explore in my journal the musings that bubble up from deep within. Lately, though? I believe I’ve developed an acute case of word saturation.

That’s the best way I can think to describe it. I’ve noticed that when provided with opportunities to sit beside a roaring fire (or sometimes better yet, a fire that’s settled into itself, its embers practically begging contemplation), or plunked in the midst of a forest cacophony of cicadas, my mind almost involuntarily slips into neutral.

It’s as if the words are just too much anymore.

What words?

All of them.

This is a little disconcerting for someone who thinks of herself at least tangentially as a writer. But this word saturation is real. And I’ll be honest: it’s a little scary. Am I just tired? Is this a result of having to come up with words every single night for the past 956 days?

Contemplation Station – Photo: L. Weikel

Looking Ahead

Maybe I’m noticing this a bit more lately because I’ve felt circumstances prodding me to give serious thought to ‘What’s next?’ You know; I ask myself the same questions I pose here in these posts, such as ‘What do I want my life to look like or to include 19 years from now?’

Or a more short-term version: ‘What do I need to release and what do I want to cultivate in my life in the next six months?’

When I contemplate these questions, some of the usual suspects pop up in what I might consider to be a reflexive response. Good grief, some of those things I’d like to manifest I’ve been talking about for twenty years. Maybe I need to let them go for good?

Maybe I do.

So if I let them go, what’s left? Well. That demands some contemplation. And – aha. That’s when the word saturation sets in.

There’s a vast Universe out there. A lot of what I’ve been thinking seems…small. Perhaps silence is better.

Looking Up From the Fire – Photo: L. Weikel

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