‘Tis the season for sniffles and general tireditis… Throw 2020 into the mix – voila! – it’s easy to succumb to blahs this holiday. Add uncertainty of an impending New Year (please, God, not another one like 2020!) and we may face an even more serious case of tireditis blues (when it’s hard getting motivated to move, like out of bed.)

But Virginia has a cure to recommend, something that has helped her in times past:

J.R.R. TOLKIEN’s “THE LORD OF THE RINGS “and “The Hobbit!”

I have read these books once a year every year since the 8th Grade. That was many years ago, that means many times. Some years I read them more than once, especially in Africa where reading them helped during tummy troubles.

Calvin & Hobbes also helped, but laughing kind of hurts when your rear tushi is very sore during long nights of Montezuma’s Revenge. Add major bouts of all-night nausea (when all your insides spill outside) and tummy also gets a bit sore.

Combine BOTH at the SAME TIME, and you have fun times in the overseas life of Virginia (the person, not the state.) I know, I know – T.M.I.!!!

Back to pleasant holiday reading, I usually start “The Lord of the Rings” before Christmas and finish by New Years (listening to holiday music sets the mood.) During this year’s reading, I’m currently in the middle of “The Two Towers” nearing one of my favorite parts of the story when Ents make an appearance. Actually, I have many favorite parts, but I do love the Ents!

There are many opportunities to stretch imagination muscles in Tolkien’s uniquely inspiring world of Middle Earth. How does this cure tireditis blues? Well, Frodo and Company have a Tough Time of it with lots of overwhelming Doom and Gloom to face.

Yet they carry on, and on. Not without loss, but they keep on going.

Hobbits are my kind of folks. They like to eat 6 meals a day (whenever possible), love going to parties and enjoy good times. They also have fierce hearts and stout courage when it matters. Their monsters are much bigger than they are, but they fight anyway.

Perhaps 2020 monsters are digging tentacles in your holiday cheer.

Maybe you don’t have Hobbits, Ents, Elves, Dwarves, Gandalf, Aragorn, and the Riders of Rohan to help you. But, if you look around, you might find family and friends to help you with your battles.

Mayhap you don’t have a Golden Ring that must be destroyed to save the world, but maybe there are some things that need casting into the Forever Fire to get a fresh start in the New Year.

Fears gotta go if you want to move on to New Things: CAST THEM INTO THE FIRE!

Poof. That’s kind of wimpy, you may need a Gollum push to let go: POOF!

Watch your fingers…

grace, peace & Tolkien tireditis cures

Virginia : )

“Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”  J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Return of the King”