Emotions Come in Waves

The Witty Witch is a huge fan of the Black Mirror. The brand new season is out again. In my experience, everyone has an opinion on Black Mirror — even those who haven’t seen a single episode. It’s not possible to meet someone who never heard of Black Mirror. But hey, change my mind if you can. I saw the episode called Joan is Awful. Well, I’m collecting my thoughts because my mind just blew up.

The Joan is Awful episode is brilliant. It’s brutal and honest, and it hits you right in your heart. I wrote about burnout, being unemployed, and all the philosophical questions you ask yourself after losing your job and your daily routine with it.

This grief is different

You haven’t lost anyone or anything. Those people, buildings, and routines are just not there anymore for you. You might miss some people and some parts of the job, and you don’t miss others. Change can make you feel heavy, especially if you haven't initiated it. You lost control over your life, so you need to find a way to be back in control again. I wonder if it’s even possible.
Maybe what you should do is find your way back to the illusion of controlling your life.
Hmm, let’s discuss this later.

What I was trying to say is that change brings a lot of new opportunities. You have the time to reflect.
What do you want to do? What you don’t want to do? What is your goal in life? What makes you happy? What makes you sad, angry, tired, whatever?
A wave capsized your boat, and now you have to decide what to do next — no more autopilot. It’s only you. It’s you only.

Joyride

Sometimes plenty of free time seems like a blessing. You get the time to establish a morning routine, a completely new one if you please. A time to play with your cat, dogs, or kids. Meet with your friends, read books, and connect with your inner self or whatever you prefer. But sometimes you might feel like you are lost in the sea. You might feel like you are the only one with nothing to do. You might experience guilt being in this great place where you could do almost anything, and you don’t use your time wisely. That is a tough battle with a lose-lose outcome. Trust me, all of these feelings are legit and everyone is going through these phases.
Try to enjoy this wave. You need this!

The next wave comes

You want to incorporate joyful moments into your new life with a job in the future. You know what? You might do it, you might not.

Never feel bad about where you are. You are at the right time at the right place, and you just need to figure out how to do your best.

Happiness comes in waves, and all the feelings come in waves only. 

Try to hop on the board and enjoy the waves. Enjoy what’s happening because our life is short. Every moment is fragile, and those wave-riding moments are the best. Enjoy life now because these waves never come back.
Pop the champagne, eat the ice cream, go crazy, or do what you always wanted to do.

Make your waves

Open your café, as Joan did. Work for yourself if that is your dream.

Enjoy the waves. There will be times when a wave is too big or too powerful and hits you before you can even get on the board. You might hit the ground, you might find yourself in a swirl, but you don’t have to learn to breathe underwater. You have to swim! So keep swimming.

Go back where you left off before the stormy wave, and swim back to the surface. The surfers call it rag-dolled. It is the time when you spin around and get tumbled underwater. Do you know what's important while being rag-dolled? Protect your head and stay calm. That’s all you have to do in difficult times. Protect your head with positive thoughts and stay calm by doing what calms you down.

I’m sorry if you thought that I would write about data privacy. I wanted to write about AI and writing and how this is connected to the writers' strike in Hollywood.
Or how people don’t read the terms and conditions, including myself. Not to mention the philosophical questions this episode has and how much fun it is to watch Salma Hayek perform. The Joan is Awful episode has the potential to write all of that stuff, but the last minutes of the show got my attention.
I guess that was my sign.

I just keep going to the beach. I keep swimming and get inspired by its wisdom.

Thank you for reading! I would appreciate it if you share my thoughts on social media. Leave a comment if you like.

The Witty Witch