Downtown Funk

Do you ever get into a funk? Where you feel like a zombie. Do the exact same thing over and over again? Like really. Wake up. Brush teeth. Shampoo the same amount into you hair. Blow hair dry. Race out the door without eating breakfast. Drive the same way to work. Buy coffee to perk you up. Work. Work. Work. Come home. And sit. Sit. Sit. Sit. Sit? And somehow after work, at home, five hours have flown by and your laundry is still dirty, dishes are still in the sink and you go to bed to start all over again the next day.  Does this happen to everyone? One recent morning I woke up before the sunrise and took a little stroll. All I needed was a new perspective to snap the fuck out of it.

I am a member of the church of paying attention. However, I wasn't paying attention while in this downtown funk. I was letting the world pass me by. It could have been sea oat withdrawal from a recent time at the beach. In any case, I needed to do something new.

The cool part is that this wake up moment came during the time when the sun aligns itself in Hampden perfectly from east to west. The fall solstice. 

The trash truck was pulling up to The Charmery it was so early. I imagined the night prior, with lines out the door, laughter from little and big kids. If I had taken this shot in time I would have submitted it to the American Moment contest at the Phillips Collection. 

I grabbed a bagel and noticed the new chalk at Common Grounds. They had painted it the previous evening. Everything looked new and fresh to me.

Later that same week I caught the sun setting down 32nd street. It's a time when people make their pilgrimages, fast and write plans for the year in multiple religious denominations. I love how the church calendar was designed around the solar calendar. It's as if God is making things brighter to wake us up.

It's a very good time of year to realign yourself, and if needed, snap the fuck out of your funk.