Selectively Juggling

Beyond the pragmatic responses of water, fresh air (breath), food, shelter, family, friends and money etc, there are deeper more philosophical, psychological and esoteric answers.

I honestly couldn’t live without my personal freedom, access to Mother Nature and music. I can’t imagine a life where I didn’t have the power and privilege to make choices, what to eat, think, wear, read, live and who to love etc. I couldn’t live without sunshine and access to positive energy and hope. I couldn’t live without laughter and tears. I couldn’t live without change, without the ability to exercise my thoughts, creativity and passion. I couldn’t live without the foundations of ‘possibilities’ lining my everyday existence. I couldn’t live without quiet reflection and deep restorative me time, especially given that I am a special needs parent and need to be 100% present – day in and day out. I couldn’t live without my imagination and the ability to conjure up a healing and energy-giving liminal space, where I can observe life, myself, and others. I couldn’t live without compassion, consciousness and metacognition.

I couldn’t live without the ability to expand and grow. I couldn’t live without the ability to feel and express. I couldn’t live without the ability to simply be imperfectly me. I’d also struggle with being confined and expected to shrink, to be less than in the eyes of others. I couldn’t live without the choice to use my voice.

I couldn’t live without the freedom to embrace and honour my inner child. I couldn’t live without knowing that I am loved and can love – so completely. I couldn’t live without the space to exist as I am, to question, challenge, and perceive the world as I do. I couldn’t live trapped in a world of hate, bigotry, racism, misogyny and ableism. I couldn’t live in a world without kindness.

Oh, and my camera. I couldn’t live without the ability to lose myself in photography. I couldn’t live without the beauty of nature and the way it reveals itself to me through visual metaphor. I couldn’t live without thinking and communicating in metaphors. I couldn’t live without the sensory joy and awe of nature, of camping, swimming and simply ‘being’. It helps to balance the heaviness of adulting and of being a parent to children with additional support needs.

Finally, I couldn’t live without the joy and sense of gratitude for the simple things. I can’t imagine being so disconnected to my sense of self that I didn’t feel the awe and wonder of life itself. That my friends is priceless.