My thinking has shifted a lot over the past month. That trip to the post office was really jarring for me. It was like all the news I was seeing from the US was suddenly in my face. Being across the ocean, I have the luxury of turning on or tuning out the barrage of news. Being told that I can't send our stuff to a place and being from the place made things very real. Then it got me ruminating on what this all actually means. As I zoomed out levels higher and higher, I could really start to see what is really happening.

Not being able to ship small things to the US isn't about economy. It is about cutting off people from their homelands. It is about messing with people’s interests and hobbies. It's about unworldly people bothering worldly people. Cutting people's ties to the globe. Ruining relationships. Choking scenes like music and art.

It is very discouraging and energy-draining. That is probably their aim. Make everyone so tired that they just give up. I was drained for about two weeks for sure. I am not drained anymore, though. We figured out how to flow around this problem. That will be true for any other problem set in front of us.

Don't let them drain your energy.

Survived the MRI yesterday but if someone asked me for tips on how to get through one, of course I have a list. It was an experience for sure. 

eyes

I wish I would have had an eye mask like the ones people wear on airplanes to sleep. I wasn't in the machine all the way but I was in far enough. The roof of the machine is really close to your face. An eye mask would have stopped the temptation to look at the roof.

mind

20 minutes plus with nothing to look at or listen to. It is pretty rare in our daily lives. I got through it but practicing a complicated linear drum pattern. You can't move in the machine. I drummed by lightly squeezing my hands and feet. I got 20 minutes of drumming in and kept my brain occupied.

ears

You have giant noise cancelling earphones on. It is still pretty loud. Lucky for me I listen to a lot of noise music. It is what it is so embrace the noise and meditate on it. There were a lot of industrial beats in the racket.

Went to get a weird soreness/bump on my hip after rehearsal checked out yesterday. Off to get an MRI scan today. I think the reason it feels intense is all the build-up to the scan. I had to meet with a person that explained to me how loud and claustrophobic the machine is and had to sign off on it.

It kind of reminded me of old horror movies in the 1950s where they had you sign a release before you entered the movie to heighten the effect of the film.

Fingers crossed it is nothing.