• Menu
  • Skip to left header navigation
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • Explore Chicago
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

The Local Tourist

Experience the fascination of a tourist; Feel the comfort of the local

  • Travel the U.S.A.
    • The Midwest
      • Illinois
      • Indiana
      • Iowa
      • Kansas
      • Michigan
      • Minnesota
      • Missouri
      • Nebraska
      • South Dakota
      • Wisconsin
    • The South
      • Arkansas
      • Mississippi
      • North Carolina
      • Oklahoma
      • Texas
    • The West
      • Arizona
      • California
      • Colorado
      • Montana
      • Nevada
      • New Mexico
      • Utah
      • Wyoming
  • Travel Tips
    • Travel Now
  • Road Trips
    • Two Lane Gems
  • Cultural Travel
    • Arts and Culture
    • Attractions
    • Food and Drink
    • History
    • People
    • Roadside Attractions
  • Great Outdoors
    • Camping
    • Hiking and Active Travel
    • U.S. National Parks
  • Shop TLT
    • Travel Two Lane Gems
  • Travel the U.S.A.
    • The Midwest
      • Illinois
      • Indiana
      • Iowa
      • Kansas
      • Michigan
      • Minnesota
      • Missouri
      • Nebraska
      • South Dakota
      • Wisconsin
    • The South
      • Arkansas
      • Mississippi
      • North Carolina
      • Oklahoma
      • Texas
    • The West
      • Arizona
      • California
      • Colorado
      • Montana
      • Nevada
      • New Mexico
      • Utah
      • Wyoming
  • Travel Tips
    • Travel Now
  • Road Trips
    • Two Lane Gems
  • Cultural Travel
    • Arts and Culture
    • Attractions
    • Food and Drink
    • History
    • People
    • Roadside Attractions
  • Great Outdoors
    • Camping
    • Hiking and Active Travel
    • U.S. National Parks
  • Shop TLT
    • Travel Two Lane Gems
  • Contact
  • Work with TLT
  • Travel Writing
Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 103

June 29, 2020 //  by Tommy Hensel//  Leave a Comment

4shares

A new attitude.

Named must your fear be before banish it you can.

Yoda from “The Empire Strikes Back”

If I remember correctly, George Lucas actually wrote Yoda’s lines (not the screenwriters Lawrence Kasdan and Leigh Brackett). At any rate, I do find that Yoda’s wisdom sometimes comes in handy. Yesterday I focused on my dreams/nightmares. For weeks I have struggled with moments of anxiety and fear spurred by my dreams. I haven’t remembered many details of them, just how they make me feel.

Last night, for the first time in weeks, I feel as though my dreams were not quite so disconcerting. This morning, I awoke with a clear memory of some details from a dream. There was nothing extraordinary about it, nor anything that needs to be deeply analyzed. What stood out, however, was that I did not feel that all-too-familiar sense of fear and anxiety which has filled my early mornings for the past few weeks.

I named the problem and now I feel as though I can work to address it. 

For weeks I think I have been sublimating too many things. Oh, I have had moments of raw honesty in these daily posts, but overall I have been avoiding the full reality of my emotions. Let’s face it. Messy emotions are not comfortable – not for the person having them or the person hearing about them. I realize that I am still editing and I don’t mean editing here in these posts (although that is certainly the case). I mean editing in my own mind.

My mind is a powerful thing. All my life, my intellect is one of the few things that I have felt positive about. It’s something that is totally mine and something I can control. I have always been an academic overachiever – straight “A” student, valedictorian of my high school class, merit scholar, Phi Beta Kappa, MENSA, etc. When I feel out of control or bullied or disenfranchised or abused I can always retreat into my intellect and find comfort.

One of the downsides of a powerful mind, however, is that I can also quite effectively force myself to think along specific lines and avoid others. I can create powerful barriers between what I want to think and what I don’t want to think. That means that I am a genius at avoidance.

Those walls are finally breaking down. The beginning of the quarantine was like turning on a stove at a low heat. It took a while for a simmer to start and as things began to compound and (metaphorically) heat up, the temperature slowly began to rise. That simmer became a slow boil and as I felt that, I put the lid on and tried to ignore it.

I’m terrified of my pressure cooker. I have one – it was a gift about 15 years ago and I have never used it. It sits in my cabinet, pristine and nearly perfect. I read too many things about exploding pressure cookers and people being scalded by superheated steam and I am afraid to even try to learn how to use it.

Well, now I am experiencing the personal metaphysical version of exactly what I fear. I have put the lid on my boiling emotions and they are going to explode unless I can figure out how to gently release the steam – a little at a time – so that I can then remove the lid and examine what remains.

That’s one of my primary goals for the next seven days of my vacation/staycation. I have named my fear and now I have the power to banish it. My emotions will be messy this week and I will have to look into corners of my mind that frighten me. But the alternative is not a good one – and I prefer to have at least some marginal control over how I choose to “release the pressure.”

Maybe I will pull out that pressure cooker today and give it a try.

It’s only Quarantine if it comes from the Quarante province of France. Otherwise, it’s just Sparkling Isolation.

4shares

Category: ThoughtsTag: Sparkling Isolation

About Tommy Hensel

Tommy Hensel is the Director of the Fine and Performing Arts Center at Moraine Valley Community College (www.morainevalley.edu/fpac), a position he has held since January 2008. A native of Columbia, South Carolina, he has worked for more than 35 years as a professional actor, singer, stage manager, director, and arts presenter. He holds a B.A. in music and a B.A. in communication from Florida State University and an M.A. in theater from the University of South Carolina. He currently serves as Chair of the Illinois Presenters Network and is a board member of NAPAMA. He served as co-chair of the 2018 Arts Midwest Conference and currently sits on the professional development committees of both NAPAMA and Arts Midwest.

Prior to his move to Chicago, Tommy was an 11-year resident of the Seacoast region of New Hampshire where he served as Executive Director of the Rochester Opera House and sat on several non-profit arts boards. He has served on grant review panels for the New England Foundation for the Arts, New Hampshire Arts Council, Vermont Arts Council, and Illinois Arts Council. During his years as an arts presenter, he has also served on the juried showcase panels for the Arts Midwest Conference and Performing Arts Exchange.

Among his many theater credits, Hensel was the founding artistic director of the Harrisburg Shakespeare Festival (now part of the Gamut Theatre Group in PA). He has over 50 professional directing credits to his name and an extensive resumé as a theatrical performer and cabaret singer. In Chicago, he has a side "gig" as a restaurant reviewer for The Local Tourist website (http://chicago.thelocaltourist.com) and blogs about travel and food at https://www.tableforoneplease.com.

Related Stories

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 248

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Days 151 through 247

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Days 144 through 150

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Days 136 through 143

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 135

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 134

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 133

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 132

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 131

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 130

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 129

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 128

Previous Post: «Tommy Hensel Sparkling Isolation – Day 102
Next Post: Sparkling Isolation – Day 104 Tommy Hensel»

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Your Cart

  • Contact
  • Work with TLT
  • Travel Writing

Site Footer

Disclosure

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Privacy Policy

© 2021 · The Local Tourist · Experience the fascination of a tourist; feel the comfort of the local