The Full Catastrophe February 2022 Newsletter, at last! 🎉
Casey Mulligan Walsh, Writer
-embracing the full catastrophe-
The Full Catastrophe Newsletter
January 2022
Hello dear friends,
It's been way too long!
Ten months, to be exact.
I'd apologize, if I didn't know that most of us in pandemic-world have had trouble keeping up with even our most well-meaning intentions.
This challenging time has brought home to me how it important it is that we embrace "the full catastrophe" of life, which ensures we grow and learn instead of staying still. Staying stuck.
In the movie version of Nikos Kazantzakis' Zorba the Greek, when asked if he's married, Zorba responds,
"Am I not a man? Of course I've been married. Wife, house, kids, everything...the full catastrophe!"
I like the way Jon Kabat-Zinn talks about what he calls "full catastrophe living":
"[Zorba's response] was not meant to be a lament, nor does it mean that being married or having children is a catastrophe...[it] embodies a supreme appreciation for the richness of life and the inevitability of all its dilemmas, sorrows, tragedies, and ironies. His way to 'dance' is in the gale of the full catastrophe, to celebrate life, to laugh with it and at himself, even in the face of personal failure and defeat. In doing so, he is never weighed down for long, never ultimately defeated either by the world or by his own considerable folly."
The working title of my memoir-in-progress, The Full Catastrophe, draws on this idea, which brings to mind post-traumatic growth, among other things. Yet it doesn't ignore the literal "full catastrophe" so many of us experience in any number of ways as we navigate this often-messy life.
So after nearly two years that have been a crash course in this way of living and—depending on your level of risk-tolerance—vastly different from the life we were previously accustomed to, I'm done apologizing.
I hope you are, too.
But now? New year, new approach.
Today, I'm introducing The Full Catastrophe newsletter and making no promises. Maybe you'll hear from me twice a year. Maybe more. Maybe less.
I'm learning, ever so gradually, to "go with the flow."
Sometimes I'll include a blog post that will hopefully motivate you to click through and read in full, words that may inspire or words on a topic you may not have thought much about. Or, even better, maybe those words will strike a chord and spark a conversation about something that's been rolling around in your head for a while, but that you hadn't thought about in exactly that way.
In each newsletter, I'll include four of the components that, in the words of Kabat-Zinn, have allowed me to "come to grips with what is most difficult in life and to find within it room to grow in strength and wisdom."
*News of the Day ~ what's new in my writing life and elsewhere
*Looking Back to Look Ahead ~ a reprise of an old piece, a new look at an old topic I've previously explored, or a revisit to an idea that's meant a lot to me
*Inspiration Everywhere ~ so many wonderful writers and books, artists and musicians and chefs, thinkers and creators inspire me
*Wanderlust and Reverie ~ photos from our travels or an occasional flashback to long-ago times, the people and places and experiences that have shaped and enriched me
I'm looking forward to connecting a bit more regularly. As always, I'm grateful you're on board!
Please feel free to and let them know they can sign up to receive it themselves here.
News of the Day
So much news to share this time!
Here's a quick roundup of all the exciting things 2021 brought into my writing life:
Essays published:
"A How-To for Desperate Times," Fresh Ink, February 2021
“Life By the Numbers,” Circulation: Genomics and Precision Medicine, February 2021
“This is What No One Tells You About Losing a Child,” HuffPost Personal, June 2021
“The Clothes Brush,” The Keepthings, July 2021
“Stoop Time,” Next Avenue September, 2021
“Future Past,” The Manifest-Station, December 2021
Readings:
“The Beautiful Game,” The Under Review 2020, reading February 2021
"Forging a New Connection," The SS. Storytelling Series, May 2021
Podcasts:
“A How-To for Desperate Times,” The Personal Element Podcast, September 2021
Finally, in October, the folks at WebMD contacted me to write a monthly patient perspective blog on familial hypercholesterolemia, the genetic disorder that causes severely high cholesterol. Carried on an autosomal dominant gene (meaning each first degree relative has a 50 percent chance having it passed on to them), I have this disorder, as did my father, brother, and son. As do my daughter and granddaughter.
FH is as common as Type 1 diabetes, affecting 1 in 250 people, yet tremendously underdiagnosed. This means that 80% of people who have it don't know it and aren't getting appropriate, life-saving treatment.
So far I've written about early diagnosis, the things I wish others knew about FH, and how different familial hypercholesterolemia is from "garden variety" high cholesterol. I'm so pleased to have the opportunity to spread the word about FH to such a wide audience.
Writing about topics of grief and uncertainty—so much a part of the times we're living through—it’s easy to feel stuck, as if nothing is happening and maybe nothing ever will again. Though I felt like I was plodding along throughout 2021, barely making progress, there's something about seeing all of this listed out on the page that gives me new motivation. New hope.
I'd be honored to have you read or listen to any of these pieces. Thank you for your ongoing support. It means the world to me.
Looking Back to Look Ahead
Here's an essay that appeared in Modern Loss way back in 2018. Parts of this piece now form the opening chapter of my memoir-in-progress, THE FULL CATASTROPHE.
Screening Calls for My Dead Son
One day, early in August, the phone rings.
“Hello?”
“Eric Hendrickson, please.”
“Sorry, he’s not here,” I reply.
You have no idea how sorry I am he’s not here.
“We’re calling about a $60 check he wrote to Price Chopper on October 28. It was returned for insufficient funds.”
“Seriously? That was nine months ago.”
But God, it feels so good to hear someone say his name again. If only this were as simple as giving this wayward son of mine hell when he gets home.
“With fees, he now owes $82. If he doesn’t pay right away, it goes to our lawyer.”
I check in with myself, not sure just what I’m feeling. Apparently, I’ve taken too much time for the voice on the other end of the phone.
“Hello? Is he there?”
“No.”
“How can we get in touch with him?”
Read on
Inspiration Everywhere
So many wonderful writers and books, artists and musicians and chefs, thinkers and creators inspire me. I'll share my latest obsessions with you here.
Thanks to a good friend who introduced me to Edward's Menagerie by Kerry Lord, a book of animals to crochet, I'm now obsessed with creating these adorable creatures.
As much time as I devote to writing and editing and reading the work of writers I admire, I find I need to plan for time away from the screen. Whether it's walking or watching a movie or spending time with friends and family, I always return to the page with new eyes and renewed focus.
Lately, I've been settling in each night to stitch and stuff and assemble to my heart's content. Hopefully my younger grandkids will enjoy receiving one of these critters (though who am I kidding? I want them all for myself!).
Wanderlust
This memory takes on a golden glow for me, a sweet ending to an incredible meal at Tavern on the Green. It was a milestone birthday celebration, which my husband Kevin orchestrated as a surprise, and it came after seeing Dear Evan Hansen (maybe my favorite musical ever) and taking a hansom cab ride through Central Park.
For decades, it seemed impossible that life would ever get any easier. I could only have dreamed, then, of a day like this, when I'd feel so cared for.
Now I dream of these sorts of days for a different reason. Revisiting these times, when we could move freely and travel wherever, whenever, has carried me through the past couple of years.
With any luck (the luck of the Irish, perhaps?), we'll be seeing Hamilton—and maybe even the St. Patrick's Day Parade—in March, and life will feel a little richer, the world a little wider again.
I'm wishing you all a return to some of the things and people you love and have missed, whether you find them in far flung places or right at home.
We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us. -Joseph Campbell
Articles on Grief, Finding Meaning, and Post-Traumatic Growth on the Web
Easing the Pain of Grief and Loss
A grief story and a love story form the backbone of "Lost and Found"
Post-Traumatic Growth is a Real Thing and You Might Be Experiencing It