This week, a giant container ship got stuck in the Suez Canal.

A bunch of tugboats and bulldozers have attempted to create some kind of motion for the ship, but the scale at which they are working is comically small compared to the giant cargo vessel.

I can relate. That’s how I’ve felt lately not only trying to make a change happen and influence others, but also in trying to change myself. How can I begin to overcome entrenched habits and beliefs? How can I change course without getting stuck? It feels like it will take forever, and experiments feel risky.

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There are a few factors complicating my sleep recently. I’m sure I’m not the only one.

Some combination of the switch to Daylight Saving Time, a new medication, aging, and pandemic anxiety has left me with erratic energy levels and an unpredictable schedule of slumber.

Despite a full night’s sleep, I might be totally exhausted in the middle of the day. In that moment, I’ve got a dilemma: coffee, or a nap?

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I have an ongoing text conversation with my cousin in which we seek to solve the problems of the universe…or at the very least, our own.

Recently, we observed how out of balance we can get if we follow advice meant for someone with a dramatically different temperament. “I don’t think everything is healed by action,” I said. “Rest is important. But probably if you’re a person who is constantly resting, you need more action.”

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“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”

This memorable line comes from a charming, Grammy-nominated song called “Any Road”, off of George Harrison’s posthumous album, Brainwashed.

A similar idea appears in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

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Years ago, I moved to a new city with only the slimmest of job prospects (that was crazy decision number one).

I managed to find a part-time, temporary gig as an assistant teacher of music classes for older adults. We were teaching them how to play keyboard instruments, but the goal was really to sell them fancy home organs so complex that their array of buttons and dials resembled the cockpit of a 747 (the price was similar to that of an aircraft, too).

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