How I deal with a lifelong journey of anxiety and depression.
Something I don’t really want you to know about me is that I read a lot of self-help and business books. I like how the authors are so positive and encouraging. I’m used to hanging out with artists and songwriters. We’re like what I imagine a teachers’ lounge full of tenured English teachers is like. A little jaded and smoky. We used to want to change the world, and I suppose we still do, it’s just a bit lower on the to-do list.
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Whether you’re vegan or gluten free, or whether you have money for pizza or don’t, and even whether you hate pizza (who are you?) or love it and want to marry it—I would encourage you to celebrate Pizza Friday every single week. Does it have to be Friday? No. Does it have to be pizza? No.
Wait, what?
Let me explain.
Have you ever heard the expression “Nobody wants a quarter-inch drill bit; they want a quarter-inch hole”? It’s a way of saying people want an external thing for an internal reason. Because I don’t just want a hole either. I want a hole in the bathroom tile to hang a towel rack to make my wife happy. I want a good marriage. Drill bit (external). Good marriage (internal).
And that’s a little like Pizza Friday. Sure, I love seeing two boxes of pepperoni pizza from one of our favorite local joints Castrillo’s. I love cracking open a beer and holding that slice of pizza in my hand. The aroma of basil and rosemary. I like less what it does to my waistline, but that’s beside the point.
The point is that I haven’t stopped looking forward to Pizza Friday since we started. It’s the “hole” in the drill bit metaphor: something to look forward to. I’m wondering: Do you have that? Are you consistently looking forward to something?
Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl kept hopeful in the Nazi concentration camps by thinking about meeting his wife again someday. He’d vividly imagine the two of them reuniting. And he’d also daydream about teaching students everything he was learning about hope in the midst of unimaginable suffering. Looking forward to something was essential to his survival. It kept him going.
I know comparing Pizza Friday with Viktor Frankl in any way borders on criminal, but I think he would agree with me here. He’d recommend Pizza Friday. Because whether it’s pizza or fish sticks, movie night or a walk in the park, you looking forward to something will help you through the struggle of now. I know it has helped me. It continues to help. And that’s why my family and I celebrate it every week.
So Happy Pizza Friday, wherever you are. And here’s to the next one.
Love,
Aaron
P.S. Send me a pic of you celebrating. Or write me your thoughts. I’d love to hear from you. You can reply directly to me here.
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