What’s in Your Cauldron?
Imparting what I’ve learned to my daughter and hoping that she’ll listen
A few days ago, my nineteen-year-old daughter Lucia called me crying on the treadmill. “I’m so overwhelmed,” she cried-laughed into the phone, trying to camouflage her emotions in the middle of the student-filled gym. I tried to talk her down and told her to take a deep breath, and then another one. I told her to look in front of her and tell me what she was looking at.
Eventually, she calmed down and was able to tell me all of the things she was dealing with. She’s trying to find housing for next year in a college town where housing is ridiculously limited. The process is complicated by the fact that she wants to go abroad and has to find a subletter for part of the year. Then there are the relationship dynamics between all of the roommates.
On top of this, there’s school, her boyfriend, her internship, a nagging cough she’s had for 10 weeks, and the inherent emotional lability that comes from being a young adult.
The energy Lucia shared that morning on the phone felt very familiar. I relate completely to that feeling of overwhelm-ment. I cycle through that on a regular basis. That same afternoon as I proposed coordinating a four-hour croissant-making class, my partner Nancy, constantly managing my own…
