Joyce Rupp wrote this poem a while back called A Prayer to be Free of the Tizzies (2000). In it, she talks to God acknowledging that it is not God but her, human extraordinaire (how I see her), that causes the tizzies within, the ‘wild worrying’ and the ‘needless scurrying’ actioning regularly in our daily lives. Calm the waters. Get thoughts under control. Hold your horses. ‘Whoa Silver’ kind of stop and calm the heck down. For worrying does not do anything but take up way too much real estate in the mind and matter. Be calm. Well, easier said than done.
The thing is that some things, small or large, can tick you off. And it seems no matter what you try to do it becomes a niggle, an irritant that festers. Similar to when someone mentions the word lice, YIKES, and you start to get that phantom feeling of having to scratch your head at something that is NOT there. I think it is the mere knowledge of knowing. LOL. While at other times, the tizzy is that helplessness in feeling that you cannot do a thing about it. Your head space becomes a mind field of ‘what ifs’ and ‘whys’ ping ponging back and forth. Grappling with an issue that generally is trivial by nature but becomes bigger as you stew and fret.
Speaking of real estate, I recently have been in a bit of tizzy, not trivial by any stretch of the imagination, to the awareness of the cost of living and the crazy ridiculous of the real estate market. The price curve is almost vertical in the out of this world phenomena of the increase. Granted some people are doing really well in selling their home and bless their hearts for reaping the benefits of something I find uncomfortable and unjust. How in the world can our young afford the impossible?! Sitting back listening to my friends share the real estate frenzy going on in their neighbourhood, their faces reflecting the unbelievableness to their own home’s value, brings home to me a tizzy. I mean on the one hand those who sell their home for the unprecedented pricing (and within days of the listing going up the market), they are in good shape. Yet, on the other hand, they get the gain with a fantastic walk away but then turn around and buy crazy-priced home. What!!!
Really!!! I feel helpless and fraught with angst because it is so unfair, not realistic in any way, for the young or old alike, to own their own home one day. My dad tells the story of my folks and their purchase to buy their very first home. As I recall they put in three offers (back in early 60’s) which ranged basically from $11,500 to $13,500 for similar three bedroom brick homes each on nice size lots. Unbelievable. And the thing back then was home prices did not surge or skyrocket from year to year.
Anyway, so putting in the bids, one in city, one in suburb and one in a nearby village from city, dad got a call at work from mom on a Monday morning. She said congratulations we got home. Dad thought he got the city one as it was in a more upscale part of the city. He liked that idea. No. Then he said so it was the one with the home next to river in suburb community. No. He said to mom, “you got to be kidding?” Maybe he said it more colourfully. Anyway, he had low balled the village home at $9,900.00 and lo and behold the owner said YES. At that time, Dad made $58.00 a week, and mom made less. He would always shake his head when telling the story, thinking how in the world would he pay for that home in his lifetime. Well, dad, I am saying that same thing now “REALLY, how in the world?” All I can do is pray for common sense.
It is not mine to be in a tizzy over as I ponder the words of the beautiful prayer The Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr (1930’s). But it still sits with me. What is the future for our young? Yet then again, I think of the crisis happening across the ocean with Russia and Ukraine. Holy lightening! Taking over another country? Why? Taking a life ( a life who will not have the worry of getting a said home). Why? Social media capturing the chaos of paradox. So, tizzy yes. More of a frenzied tizzy actually. I pray for the loss of lives. I pray for those in positions of power to see their actions to become right and just. I pray for the paradox that we exist in as I sit in front of the nightly news witnessing on the very same screen, the hopelessness of the living to a win celebration of 5-3 Maple Leafs to Washington Capitols. The dark and the light of a paradoxical tizzy. Got to sit a spell for a minute.
The other tizzy which has been percolating for the last two years has been the effects of Covid-19 on people especially the young, shut-ins and those with mental health challenges. What is the new normal? My heart worries as I watch the effects on those in my life. This requires a different pondering…stay tuned. I just pray here for the unknown.
So for now, to bring me to a calm, I want to hover over a level of tizzy that will eventually go away. A silver lining to go hand in hand with a tizzy. Something that requires a less of me. For some reason the last few weeks, winter has really bothered me. Usually I am pretty good about coasting through the winter but I have been on strike. Snow to go. Haha. Winter to go. Yes. February to go. Yes. It is March. Closer to spring. Grateful woohoo. And hey, today came in like a lamb. You know the old wives tale “March comes in like a lamb and goes out like a lion.” Yes a sprinkle of snow on the windshield as I peek out the window…I can handle that. So thankfully this tizzy is short lived.
I also should put things into perspective. Humans worry. I think it is in our DNA or i is it RNA?? Not worry, or have a tizzy fit, just maybe take the edge off it. How? No clue. but do not worry about worrying. Pointless. Now if the mind wanders into tizzy mode about how you look today OR you asked a dumb question OR someone will notice that tiny stain on your shirt OR that you had a second cookie OR getting left off of group chat OR someone heard you in the next stall OR forgetting someone’s name OR stumbling when walking OR hurting someone’s feelings (dad no more talking, heard story already, like yesterday) OR leaving stove on (maybe you should check). Don’t. In the words of Erma Bombeck, worrying (tizzy) is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but it doesn’t get you anywhere. Calm the waters.
Living with the tizzy, big or small, breathe then kick some snow. Haha. Blessings.
Let us pray for those whom are in need of prayer and for the tizzy to be calm. Let us pray for the just and right to come to our world leaders. Let us pray for those who suffer, mentally physically socially and spiritually. Amen
Karenpondering 