Happy New Year!
Today is January 2, 2023
Spotlight Photo of the Week
A fond childhood memory surfaced when Rachel found these pecans at the store. In her teen years, she would pick up bowls of fresh pecans from the ground after they had fallen from the larger than life pecan tree in her mother’s front yard in the country.
On this day in history…
2004- NASA‘s spacecraft Stardust collected dust grains from the comet Wild 2, and the cometary material was later revealed to contain the amino acid glycine, an essential building block of life.
National Day…
Quote of the Week
“Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different.”
– C.S. Lewis
Mira’s Photo of the Week
https://www.everafterphotographypnw.com/
A Few Good Facts
The New York City Department of Sanitation expects to clean 30 to 65 tons of debris on New Year’s Day.
Polar bear coats have no white pigmentation. Their skin is black and their fur is hollow, which scatters light, giving them a white appearance. Sometimes algae grow in the hollow fur, giving them a greenish hue.
“Rod wax” was a byproduct of oil drilling that workers used to heal wounds and burns. Noticing its benefits, chemist Robert Chesebrough refined and purified the “rod wax,” and in 1872 he marketed it as Vaseline.
This section is a fun add-on from Britannica.com. Each day there is a new fun fact in their All Good Facts section. These are a few that Rachel found interesting.
Word of the Day
Will you find it?
As a fun challenge each week, Rachel visits Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day when she sits down to write her weekly story. Whatever the word of that particular day happens to be, she must find a way to fit it into her story. Will you find it?
Word of the Day
Sunday, January 1, 2023
ANNUS MIRABILIS
Meaning
Annus mirabilis means “a remarkable or notable year.”
Merriam-Webster’s 2022 Word of the Year
Gaslighting
Noun: psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one’s emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator.
Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year is data driven. According to the linked article from MW, they state, “2022 saw a 1740% increase in lookups for gaslighting, with high interest throughout the year.” Maybe one of these days the Word of the Year will be one with a positive connotation.
22 for 2022 Happier Project
Roughly a year ago, on January 10, 2022, Rachel published her 22 for 2022 Happier Project goals. For newcomers, this 2022 project was brought about by an idea from The Happiness Project, a book by Gretchen Rubin. The book discusses ideas to focus on each month to provide the opportunity to be happier in life. Rachel credits her cousin Jimmy for introducing her to Gretchen Rubin’s book several years ago. This year, 2023, Rachel is already in the process of crossing goals off of her brand new 23 for 2023 Happier Project list, which was published in My Monday Memo’s December 5th issue.
Gretchen Rubin also has a weekly podcast that she broadcasts with her sister, Hollywood show-runner Elizabeth Craft, that Rachel began listening to last year. The podcast discusses happiness and good habits each week that Rachel has been excited to try out. At the end of each podcast, Gretchen says her tagline, “Onward & Upward.” This has become a beloved phrase that Rachel thinks about regularly and repeats to herself during trying times. https://gretchenrubin.com/podcast/.
In her book, and podcast, Gretchen puts a good deal of emphasis on what she calls the Four Tendencies. She says that understanding which of the four you fall under will help you learn how to proceed with the best possible outcome. There are Upholders, Questioners, Obligers, and Rebels. If you are interested in learning which you fall under, visit https://gretchenrubin.com/four-tendencies/ to take the quiz. Rachel is an Upholder, which won’t be a surprise to anyone that knows her well.
Was the 22 for 2022 list a success? Rachel would say yes. Her initial goal list had a few changes throughout the year due to her spine surgery taking place in June. She altered a few of the goals to allow for her to continue completing reachable goals rather than giving up on too many. Rachel enjoyed having a goal list for the year. She admits that at times it was challenging to keep up with her selected goals, but found that once she pushed through, she felt a sense of accomplishment. The goal list gave her a reason to push herself. In the end, she successfully completed 17 of 22 goals during 2022.
Rachel looks forward to working on her 23 for 2023 list and will be HAPPY to provide updates throughout the year.
Story of the Week
Happy Graduation Cupping
On Thursday, December 29th, after three months of sessions, Rachel officially “graduated” from physical therapy. For a graduation treat, her therapist, Catch, offered her a cupping to wrap up the session. She’s always been interested in cupping and jumped at the chance for the experience. With her continued muscle cramping and spasms, she figured it couldn’t hurt. For an interesting article on cupping, visit this link for a Cleveland Clinic article on the topic.
The application of the cups was somewhat uncomfortable. Rachel would describe the feeling as the skin being pulled tight, which was entirely tolerable. This is essentially what is happening when the cups are applied, as the suction pulls a mound of skin up into the cup forming a bubble of skin, which quickly discolors.
After adjusting to the feeling of the cups on her back, Catch had Rachel do a few stretches on the table by way of a child’s pose. Once comfortable, he had her perform a few standing stretches. This felt awkward for Rachel and slightly uncomfortable due to the pulling of the skin.
Once Catch removed the cups, there was no lingering discomfort, but a feeling of release instead. In the days following the cupping treatment, Rachel did not experience bruising on her back. The included photo of her back was taken quickly after the session, which only shows a small reminder of the cup placement. She admits she was interested to see the circular bruising as it changed color while healing.
Rachel has mixed feelings about the conclusion of her physical therapy sessions. She enjoyed the team at the physical therapy office and meeting others working to recover from injury. What she enjoyed most was learning new ways to strengthen her body. It wasn’t always easy, and there was a lot of sweat, and sometimes tears, but Rachel is thankful for the experience and will continue to work diligently to keep her back strong. Thanks to this experience, 2022 has been an annus mirabilis for Rachel. Until next time, be well.
