We look at the world once, in childhood. The rest is memory.
Louise Gluck
What you're describing here touches what this quote makes me feel. All the feelings you can have, you will experience them as a child. And after that everything is like a spiral, the situation feels new but it just passes the same place (emotion) on another level.
This is incredible! It is not often that I get insights into The Human Experience, but your work regularly does it for me. Beautifully written and insightful, as always. Thank you so much.
i felt the same high sometimes after working a shift at the local farm store in my new rural town that i felt performing onstage with my favorite band in austin. selling a painting i spent months on kinda feels like getting an A+ and a compliment from the teacher in elementary school. getting married felt like a birthday party. there are a lot of superficially different kinds of wonderful to feel with the same receptors. it's all "the best" and it's all equal.
You just helped remind me of all the highlights of my life being in retail / the service industry for almost a decade.
I took a break for a year to work on being a full time artist and then ran out of money. I went back to retail and was having such a challenging time accepting it. But I forget sometimes how much of a blast it is to work at such a job—there really are small, big, beautiful victories that can occur when we look close enough. Getting through a rush so smoothly because you were in flow with your entire team, as you said - getting to be in control of the playlist, waking up at 4 am and witnessing the sunrise while the moon is still up (ive worked in coffee for a while) and just getting to have dope conversations with the most random strangers.
thank you for such an insightful piece gabi. what a gift it is to remember this.
I’m so glad to hear your recounting of what life in the “service” industry can be like. I often find myself wanting to return to it part-time because there are those moments, with customers sure and also when as a team everything is flowing beautifully, it’s own delicious fleeting magic.
What a terrific writer you are, just so clearly and beautifully “spoken” your words. I’ll have to sit with this idea that we have <the same emotions, triggered by diff moments in our lives>. At first gut-check I think of our emotions, however related, as different mixes, layers, watercolors perhaps. And I’ll ponder your ideas... thank you and good to find you here...
i loved this so much and resonated with it deeply !! everyday i find moments of pure bliss and satisfaction. i truly believe finding appreciation for the smallest things is what life is about. i am so happy and i love feeling the same feelings in different stages of life. staying in a nice hotel and taking a hot shower in a fancy bathroom? luxury. having a bowl of cheese it’s and watching my favorite tv show with a cold glass of water? absolute luxury. even better than the hot shower in a fancy bathroom.
I feel like it all comes down to how we are so biologically ruled by the chemicals our brain releases. An intense workout can feel the same as a whimsical romance. Endorphins and oxytocin baby
Mmm, what clarity! Just three primary colours, but that’s only when not looking, listening, feeling, tasting. It would be a deep honour to see you as a subscriber to my sphere. To welcome you as a guardian reading along. It would push me deeper into the truth.....big embrace....
i made a vow as a kid that no matter what I will be an artist, there were no other options. and now heading to my late twenties I feel there are a lot of options, other things I could’ve and could still learn and grow in, things which do not require me to break down my nervous system again and again. things that do not require me to live in precarity or in constant competition and judgement. it’s the stage fright setting in only after getting on the stage and singing the first couplet, after the chorus even, at the bridge.
the songs strongest parts to me are when you hear this pent up excitement almost bursting out, an implosion of desire being fulfilled, it sounds like the way you used to feel excitement as a kid and teenager. And now with all these experiences and knowing of the world and industry, it’s hard to be excited about anything, because what were you excited about? Entering a room full of men?
I have saved this quote from Ehime Ora’s book ancestors said: I pray that you’ll never be overwhelmed by what you asked for. I pray that you handle your blessings.
I try to find the joy in writing and performing as I did as a teen, with all the hopes and ambition still in place: on the internet, on blogs, sharing mundane feelings and greater questions.
whenever I wake up alone in a hotel room and feel a sense of loss instead of abundance I stand naked in the shower and watch the way the light shimmers as glitter on the water falling down. it’s the most touching sight, the excitement of a baby playing with fabric. we shower in light glitter every day.
We look at the world once, in childhood. The rest is memory.
Louise Gluck
What you're describing here touches what this quote makes me feel. All the feelings you can have, you will experience them as a child. And after that everything is like a spiral, the situation feels new but it just passes the same place (emotion) on another level.
This is incredible! It is not often that I get insights into The Human Experience, but your work regularly does it for me. Beautifully written and insightful, as always. Thank you so much.
i felt the same high sometimes after working a shift at the local farm store in my new rural town that i felt performing onstage with my favorite band in austin. selling a painting i spent months on kinda feels like getting an A+ and a compliment from the teacher in elementary school. getting married felt like a birthday party. there are a lot of superficially different kinds of wonderful to feel with the same receptors. it's all "the best" and it's all equal.
You just helped remind me of all the highlights of my life being in retail / the service industry for almost a decade.
I took a break for a year to work on being a full time artist and then ran out of money. I went back to retail and was having such a challenging time accepting it. But I forget sometimes how much of a blast it is to work at such a job—there really are small, big, beautiful victories that can occur when we look close enough. Getting through a rush so smoothly because you were in flow with your entire team, as you said - getting to be in control of the playlist, waking up at 4 am and witnessing the sunrise while the moon is still up (ive worked in coffee for a while) and just getting to have dope conversations with the most random strangers.
thank you for such an insightful piece gabi. what a gift it is to remember this.
I’m so glad to hear your recounting of what life in the “service” industry can be like. I often find myself wanting to return to it part-time because there are those moments, with customers sure and also when as a team everything is flowing beautifully, it’s own delicious fleeting magic.
Victory of a glorious yet modest first Substack post!
The witnessing of it
Lifts spirits
🌬️
What a terrific writer you are, just so clearly and beautifully “spoken” your words. I’ll have to sit with this idea that we have <the same emotions, triggered by diff moments in our lives>. At first gut-check I think of our emotions, however related, as different mixes, layers, watercolors perhaps. And I’ll ponder your ideas... thank you and good to find you here...
Oh and... seems this might be intermittent for you. May I encourage more..? Whenever, however...
I love this so much
i loved this so much and resonated with it deeply !! everyday i find moments of pure bliss and satisfaction. i truly believe finding appreciation for the smallest things is what life is about. i am so happy and i love feeling the same feelings in different stages of life. staying in a nice hotel and taking a hot shower in a fancy bathroom? luxury. having a bowl of cheese it’s and watching my favorite tv show with a cold glass of water? absolute luxury. even better than the hot shower in a fancy bathroom.
loved this so much and sending you love
I feel like it all comes down to how we are so biologically ruled by the chemicals our brain releases. An intense workout can feel the same as a whimsical romance. Endorphins and oxytocin baby
you bring back all the writing that’ve always longed for
Mmm, what clarity! Just three primary colours, but that’s only when not looking, listening, feeling, tasting. It would be a deep honour to see you as a subscriber to my sphere. To welcome you as a guardian reading along. It would push me deeper into the truth.....big embrace....
i made a vow as a kid that no matter what I will be an artist, there were no other options. and now heading to my late twenties I feel there are a lot of options, other things I could’ve and could still learn and grow in, things which do not require me to break down my nervous system again and again. things that do not require me to live in precarity or in constant competition and judgement. it’s the stage fright setting in only after getting on the stage and singing the first couplet, after the chorus even, at the bridge.
the songs strongest parts to me are when you hear this pent up excitement almost bursting out, an implosion of desire being fulfilled, it sounds like the way you used to feel excitement as a kid and teenager. And now with all these experiences and knowing of the world and industry, it’s hard to be excited about anything, because what were you excited about? Entering a room full of men?
I have saved this quote from Ehime Ora’s book ancestors said: I pray that you’ll never be overwhelmed by what you asked for. I pray that you handle your blessings.
I try to find the joy in writing and performing as I did as a teen, with all the hopes and ambition still in place: on the internet, on blogs, sharing mundane feelings and greater questions.
whenever I wake up alone in a hotel room and feel a sense of loss instead of abundance I stand naked in the shower and watch the way the light shimmers as glitter on the water falling down. it’s the most touching sight, the excitement of a baby playing with fabric. we shower in light glitter every day.