![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lynnricker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/romeo_juliet_baz.jpg?resize=300%2C195&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Everybody’s free to feel good<\/p>\n
Brother and sister together we’ll make it through<\/p>\n
Someday a spirit will take you and guide you there<\/p>\n
I know you’ve been hurting<\/p>\n
I’ve been waiting to be there for you<\/p>\n
And I’ll be there, just helping you out, whenever I can<\/p>\n
– Rozalla<\/p>\n
I love this song from the soundtrack of the Romeo and Juliet.\u00a0 Not the original, nor the new version, but the near and dear to my heart 90\u2019s rendering with Claire Danes and Leo DiCaprio.\u00a0 There\u2019s something about the timeless Shakespearean dialogue set against the modern backdrop that makes it more relevant and accessible.\u00a0 Or perhaps it\u2019s the nostalgia of\u00a0recalling seeing this movie for the first time, and knowing how young and carefree we were.<\/p>\n
Recently, I\u2019ve really needed to remember these words, free to feel good.<\/em>\u00a0 The combination of an uncertain schedule, too much work, and the winter sky being more often gray than not, have left me in a serious funk.\u00a0 Add to that a cold that refuses to desist, and I find myself wanting to huddle under blankets with a good book.<\/p>\n After weeks of patiently plodding through it, I naturally turn to Girl Scout cookies for solitude, but alas, I ate them all, and the funk still persists.<\/p>\n With some introspection, I understand I\u2019m wallowing a bit.\u00a0 I often feel my time is not my own, and certainly, there\u2019s not enough of it to reach the end of my to-do list.\u00a0 I \u00a0work diligently, and most days find I accomplish quite a bit, yet still, \u00a0I can\u2019t seem to get ahead of the current. \u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s as if I am bobbing in a sea, a cross-current of paperwork, projects, and requests. Imagining slicing through clear water with crisp, clean strokes is a glorifying feeling. Most days I merely tread water in the murky depths, rather more frantic than graceful.<\/p>\n While, not being able to get abreast of my list is disappointing, it does not need to be disheartening, or worse, diminishing.<\/p>\n People can\u2019t make you feel inferior without your permission.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I always disliked this line about not feeling inferior, in that eye-rolling, sing-song way, of We love you Miss Hannagan<\/em>.\u00a0 It\u2019s a true statement, but it\u2019s not very helpful.<\/p>\n Similarly, early in my career, a mentor told me I needed to be like a duck <\/em>relative to receiving feedback from an unhelpful colleague; to just let go, and allow the water to cascade off my back.\u00a0 But, I had not, and still haven\u2019t, an idea of how to do this.\u00a0 The very laws of physics defy that water when poured, shall surely cling.<\/p>\n Some people seem to be born with natural proclivity to go on, unaffected by the words and opinions of others.\u00a0 I rather envy them this. \u00a0But, perhaps in re-framing it, it is a teachable skill after all.\u00a0 For free to feel good<\/em>, is something else entirely different.<\/p>\n It reminds me I am free to feel good, regardless of what\u2019s happening around me.\u00a0 I\u2019m free to take the deepest breath, even in tense moments. I\u2019m free to be proud of my work even when\u00a0there\u2019s more to do.\u00a0 I\u2019m free to say no when I need to, and to hush that inner voice that says it\u2019s not good enough.\u00a0 I\u2019m free to give my kids all the love I can.\u00a0 I\u2019m free to decide not to log on again tonight.<\/p>\n And with this in my mind, I close my computer.\u00a0 I take the kids to the park on a surprisingly warm February day.\u00a0 They shriek and holler, and invite me to join them climbing the castle.\u00a0 We man the boat, blasting the canon at our enemies.\u00a0 Finally we dock and go on a proper pirate hunt for buried treasure.<\/p>\n We cross the bridge gazing at tall cattails in the marshy stream.\u00a0 The water is still and cold, barely moving beneath the bridge.\u00a0 Birds call in the distance.\u00a0 Around the bend, we meet a cardinal drinking at the pond\u2019s edge.\u00a0 Down the path, the woods deepen, seeming to envelope us in a secure embrace.\u00a0 The kids gather acorns, rocks, and twigs as pirate booty. \u00a0Crossing the wooden bridge, our feet make clumping sounds that echo across the glade.\u00a0 Busy squirrels look up to see who\u2019s interrupted their foraging.\u00a0 To soon, the outside world calls, and we turn to head home for lunch and hot chocolate.<\/p>\n This may just be what\u2019s needed to bust my funk.\u00a0 And in case it\u2019s not, can someone please send a Girl Scout to my house with more cookies?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Everybody’s free to feel good Brother and sister together we’ll make it through Someday a spirit will take you and guide you there I know you’ve been hurting I’ve been waiting to be there for you And I’ll be there, just helping you out, whenever I can – Rozalla I love this song from the… Continue reading Free to Feel Good<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p78aL7-3A","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=222"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions\/229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lynnricker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/download.jpg?resize=245%2C206&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n