There's no such thing as balance.

Hello beauties,

What a rough, rough week.

The avalanche of Kavanaugh news - and even more than that, the public discourse around it  - had me regularly running to seek refuge in the kitchen.

Perhaps I get it from my grandmother: when times are tough, I cook.

This week, I cooked soups, muffins, beans, quiche. I chopped, measured, stirred, garnished. I worked my way through a dozen recipes in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.

Cooking is grounding and nurturing for me: the meditative practices and careful attention it entails, and also the end result of delicious food full of life force and love.

Meanwhile

I called Senators all week long, imploring them to investigate Kavanaugh.

I read amazing, inspiring, diamond-clear thinking by feminist writers:

Lili Loofbourow on what it means that "Boys will be boys" seeps into the defense of Kavanaugh.

Rebecca Traister on how women's anger is what saves the United States, again and again.

Anita Hill - Professor Hill - on how this reboot of Creeps Tryna Get in the Supreme Court can and must be different than the 1991 version.

This week, this is what balancing looked like for me.

I was balancing the emotional labor required by heightened rage / additional activism / just simply existing as a woman in this particular cultural moment

with

Practices - cooking/eating well, but also going to bed early, connecting with feminist friends, snuggling with my girls, reading a good novel - that nurture my body and soul.

*

Late last night, the equinox arrived - one of two days a year when day and night are of equal duration.

Astrologically speaking, this is a time of balancing: 

indoors/outdoors
working/resting
acting/reflecting
giving/receiving
routine/spontaneity

It's vitally important to remember that this balancing never occurs in a vacuum.

Meaning: reality is always presenting us with circumstances and energies to which we must respond.

That's why I always use the -ing when I talk about balance.

"Balance" sounds like something you could figure out, or achieve, like a gymnast sticking a landing.

But the reality is

Balancing is a process we sustain. 

It's never perfectly achieved, or figured out.

Because the world keeps spinning. 

Sometimes it asks a lot of us

(In which case we have to give more time, space, and fuel to ourselves)

Sometimes it is discouraging

(In which case we have to seek out that which heartens us)

Sometimes the midterms are coming

(In which case we must contribute our efforts to help save our country)

So consider for a moment, my friend:

What is the world asking of you these days?

How are you called to engage?

In order to engage sustainably, what must you be balancing? 

How will you ground, nurture, and fuel yourself as the world spins through maddening times?

If it's with quiche, call me. I have one in the oven.