Amulet for the Everyday

I’m bad at reassurance. I’d say hang in there, but I don’t want to tell you what to do. I don’t want to burden you with survival, that yoke of expectations that will likely turn out not to be true. 

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Besides, I have something to give you that’s better than reassurance. It’s a small thing and sometimes rests easy when worn correctly; you’ll find it makes its own weight. Go ahead, take it – it may be different than you expect. You want to know what it is? It’s an Amulet for the Everyday. 

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They’re easy to find when you aren’t looking, notoriously hard to make. It’s the sort of thing you need most when its existence is least likely. This one was a bit of a trick to craft. Most of the necessary tools and materials are currently in short supply. So this particular Amulet is a bit of an ad hoc arrangement, but it could be enough to give you a few moments’ breathing space. 

Because you must wear it so closely, you may have a hard time seeing it. Here is what it looks like. 

It has a circular form of chain links. The links range from perfect rounds to progressively distorted shapes, because our days are progressively distorted from our expectations until our expectations are re-shaped. 

It is made of surfaces polished to a high reflection. It reflects its surroundings, taking them in and taking them on. It holds the outside world, just for a moment, before letting it go. 

I already said it makes its own weight. Most times it’s so light you wouldn’t notice, but sometimes it’s far too heavy – the weight of something with inertia, inevitability. Once it creates a pattern it will hold the weight of whatever your Everyday holds. 

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What does it summon? Your Everyday, otherwise known as “normal.” The details will vary for each of us, but it is always something predictable. “Normal” guarantees today will be like yesterday and tomorrow like today, an unbroken chain of certainty. It also predicts us. We are what we do repeatedly, composed of our own repetitive motions. The Everyday seems to be everywhere, until it isn’t. 

Once an Everyday is gone, it’s gone. A new one must be re-made from scratch, from the ground up and the raw materials of life and thought and passions. There’s no point in trying to make it sturdy; it will never be as strong as the world rushing around it. It’s a fragile form, for all it pretends to the weight of the inevitable. I tell you this because you are probably crafting a new Everyday right now, though you may not realize it. 

Of course, this Amulet is just a construct, an idea. I did warn you it was an ad hoc arrangement. It can’t give you back what has already vanished. But it can let you see which parts of your changing life are changing you. It can give you a few seconds’ space to choose what you reflect, what you allow to gain weight of inertia – what you allow to be your new Everyday.

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