Have you ever just been wandering around your house, not sure what to do? You look at all the things that are normally interesting, that peak your interest and get you excited, but now.... there's something lacking, it just doesn't seem the same. There's no spark, no electric feeling. When I play the piano, I feel like I'm creating a whole new world, just with the notes that I'm playing.
But just today, I sat down, messing around on the keyboard, and it just wasn't fun.
WHY??? What caused me to loose interest in one of the things that brings me joy and happiness?
Well, for one, I'm exceptionally hungry at the moment, and there seems to be no food anywhere around the house. This is the start of my problem. If I'm hungry, I can barely function.
The second part of my problem is that my mother has decided to make me do this "Whole 30" diet thing, which means no grain. Or sugar. So already my favorite things are out. No ice cream, no sandwiches, no cookies. No cereal, no nothing, not one bit of anything that I enjoy. Although, I do like fish, and that's one of the big things that I CAN have, but I already had that for lunch, and I don't want it twice.
Also, for the past couple hours, no one has been in this house except for me and my dog, Sherlock. Yes, his name is Sherlock. He's stupid smart. And I don't mean REALLY smart stupid smart. I mean he's stupid(we're still trying to teach him to "fetch"). And he's smart(somehow knows how to get himself out of the backyard on multiple occasions, got himself out of his chain in the garage). It's a weird combination.
Anyway, I've been home alone for a LOOONG time, and normally this is something I crave. I usually lock myself in my bedroom for hours on end, but right now, it's driving me nuts.
So, to check off the list so far: I'm very, very, very hungry; there's no food to eat, and if there was, I probably couldn't eat it; and I'm alone. Very alone.
So why does this make everything suddenly NOT interesting??? Why does the lack of food and people make me so amazingly bored???
My theory is this:
Because.
I'm.
HUMAN.
And have you noticed what humans have done for centuries? They hunt for food, the need to survive always pushing them forward. They seek out other humans, for extra protection, for help, for comfort and a feeling of love. Let's take a look at Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs (thank you The Fault In Our Stars):
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As we can see, the base of the pyramid is the basics, the things that keep you alive, including two that I was lacking at the time: food, and sleep (because what teenager gets enough sleep?).
So, if you were to be lacking at least part of the base of a pyramid, wouldn't the rest of it topple down on top of you? If you were out of the streets, kicked out of your home, no job and no car, nothing that you can use to take care of your body, to continue living your life properly, suddenly, everything else is irrelevant because you have no foundation to uphold the personal, spiritual needs of your spirit/soul/chakra/whatever-you-call-it.
Why does this happen? Well, it's because it your body is not healthy, it immediately switches over to your "fight-or-flight" mode, and the basics are all that matters until you have them taken care of. Your spirit or mind (I honestly don't care what you call it) cannot function or continue living if you do not take care of your body. Whatever you believe controls your body cannot do said job if the body cannot function.
So basically, make sure you're fed, breathing, drinking plenty of water, getting plenty of sleep in whatever sized house you have with whatever clothes you need, because if you don't take care of that, everything else is so much harder to focus on. If you don't take care of your basic needs, you can't fulfill your job, you can't do as well in school, you certainly won't be as happy, and it'll be harder to keep up relationships with your family and friends.
So, there is an end to my story. Eventually, my mom returned with food, I was able to refuel and life went back to normal, basically. Things became interesting again, and I was able to work on things I'd needed to do for a while.
To finish, the power of food is incredible. Make sure you take care of yourself. You are invaluable, don't ever forget that.
