The Mad Hatter's Gap Year

Why I'm kicking 'planicitis next' in the vag (pr. vadge)

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I don’t know about y’all but I use routines as coping mechanisms. They’re self-soothers, possibly left over from an insecure, chaotic childhood. I’m not as rigid with them as I used to be so, ya know, progress right?

Anyway, ‘routine’ is a catch-all word I use to articulate all the scurrying about I do - planning out, holding on, always needing to know what’s coming - to know the future. This is a catch-all like the modern medical ‘syndromes’, which I can tell you from experience are the goody-bags of big pharma. I’ve affectionately dubbed mine as:

planicitis next - Etymology (n.) a group of symptoms that together create inflammation of the soul possibly resulting from planning, worrying, and generally focusing on time periods not equal to the present moment(s); from plan, c. 1400, the Latin or French stem of plan - ground, groundwork, scheme, + -itis "inflammation”; and next derived ‘from the Old English word nīehst, which is the superlative of nēah meaning "nigh"‘

All of this to say in 2025 I’m retiring. Part of this ‘next phase of Cori’ is to roll with the ship. Planicitis next is a fear-based syndrome I’m eradicating from my life. For the next 12 months I’m letting go, being more attuned to whatever takes my fancy. You might not see me in the notes like clockwork. You might find me periodically writing about strange, new things or travel or bucket list items.

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Let’s start the festivities now shall we? In the Chinese Zodiac, 2025 is the year of the Snake. Oddly enough, I was born in 1965, which was the year of the Wood Snake. According to the esteemed Chinese, I was born with these traits: ha ha…

…calm and collected on the surface, but passionate on the inside…also said to be goal-oriented and have a plan.

Let me clarify - ‘passionate on the inside’ is code for ‘hot fucking mess on the inside’. But see, I tole you and I tole you - I’m “goal-oriented and have a plan”. LOL. Prime example - for the last 30 years over every winter holiday break I’ve updated my resume and written goals for the coming year. There are lots of great reasons to set goals, but this year I am gifting myself a gap year. I’m going where the wind (and my husband) take me, leaping without looking, trying things and saying yes EVERY time I’m scared or hesitate or reflexively think ‘no’. I’m not overthinking, overplanning, or needing to know about anything except the current moment in which I’m immersed. This is HUGE, BIG, the BIGGEST HUGE EVER SEEN or FELT or RECORDED in all of recorded history EVER (said in a Trump voice, with hand gestures and all). And, of course, I will probably write about all of these shenanigans along the way.

I love these quotes by the Mad Hatter, from Alice and Wonderland - book and movies.

“You’ve lost your muchness” - (My husband calls it mojo) I plan to get my muchness back.

“There is a place. Like no place on Earth. A land full of wonder, mystery, and danger! Some say to survive it: You need to be as mad as a hatter. Which luckily I am.” - I call this place “the present" moment.

And now because snarky humor is my trademark and because (thanks to many greats on substack) I’ve become fluent in speaking meme, here are some beauties about snakes AND planes. LOL.

SSSSSSSSpread the word to your friends and family. Bren’s Buzz can cause venom, I mean coffee, spitting. Getter done!

I hate gossip - Just kidding, I LOVE it! Jump to conclusions and then jump into the comments to make a fuss about them. Jumping is like striking, just saying.