Life’s a lot right now, so let’s just cut the bull and jump right in. It’s a short newsletter today, sweeties. C’est la vie, literally. -Edward
I. Everyone I know is going through it these days. Call it Mercury Retrograde. Call it Saturn Return. Call it the change of seasons. Call it whatever you want, but the dolls are gtst. You read that right, although you probably didn’t pronounce it correctly. Gtst (said as the individual letters) means ‘going through some things.’ I cannot take credit for this incredible abbreviation, scientific term, and overall movement. The brainchild of my two friends Natalie and Erin, these two pioneer girlbosses have charted new territory in the ongoing national discussion on mental health. Very Lewis and Clark of them, without being fucking weird and colonial. Being gtst comes and goes. It lingers and it dips. No one’s gtst is the same as another’s. Some people’s gtst is brought on by external forces, others by their terrible decisions. You did this to yourself, Judy. For all these reasons and more, there’s no common cure. For some, you have to get to the root of it and take action. For others, you just hunker down and pray for dawn. The only comfort is knowing that you’re not the only one who is gtst. Seemingly, we all are.
II. That being said, one of the many casualties of my current bout of gtst is a stretching and mobility challenge. My podcast co-host Alyson and I have been doing fitness challenges for the better half of 2021. We share a Google Sheet to keep each other accountable. As of the time that I’m currently writing this, Alyson hasn’t logged anything since September 18th and I have marked most of the second half of the month as red. Red as in ‘oops, another day I didn’t do five minutes of stretching.’ It’s sad because Alyson has likely stayed on the ball but hasn’t updated the Sheet. But it’s mostly sad because I was enjoying this challenge! Stretching was something I used to do because my former-Marine cross country coach drilled it into my head. My fellow dive teammates and I would stretch each other out to perfect that pike position. I was the envy of many male members of the swim team as the only male member of the dive team. Which, yikies - straight, cis, white men are a mess. Stretching was also a rigorous routine to get my right leg as straight as possible for the 110m hurdles. Now, I stretch because I haven’t done it in years and my body groans at me from sun up to sun down. It’s time to play catch-up and get to preventive stretching, not rehabilitative stretching. But that ship has definitely set sail and then abruptly run aground. Marooned amongst the sea of red boxes on the Google Sheet. Anyways, this is all to say that the 5-Min Yoga: Morning Stretch with Xochilt Hoover on the Nike Training app brings me so much unbridled joy.
III. A lot of my workload this past week has not been very compatible with listening to my beloved podcasts. So, I’ve been listening to this set of songs while chugging along with work. It’s got Italian bops, slow covers, and an embarrassing version of My Heart Will Go On. Enjoy, and treat yourself this week.
Xochilt has saved us all. Her and the Italian bops. xx