Well-Water Hope Hole
Sink into your soul-spots, suckers!
A couple of years ago I visited Northern Ireland and talked to a former-Australian-turned-resident who told me her favorite spot to visit in all of Ulster was a hole in the ground.
“It’s a natural well that spurts out the most delicious, cold water into a flowing river,” she said. “Sometimes I’ll drive there simply to drink some up and sit a bit. I don’t know what it is about that place, but it just feels so peaceful and restorative.”
“I get it,” I said. “I feel like, to me, that place would be a reminder that if a random hole in the ground can provide the most delicious, nourishing liquid—seemingly out of nowhere—then surely surprising good things can out of my life.”
We all need some surprising good things, right?
Especially now, when it seems like we can’t open our eyes in the morning without witnessing some new horror of human behavior.
Now, more than ever: we need to recognize surprising delights.
A blood draw gone bad can lift your heart.
A sassy baby pygmy hippo can become the hot It Girl of Summer 2025.
The freshest, most delicious water can come from a hole in the ground.
It’s these stories that keep us going. Because you can think all hope is lost, you can feel like everything will always be the same with the Haves oppressing the Have-Nots, and then you see a story about a rescue dog that loves wearing dresses and suddenly your soul believes there’s a chance for good to thrive in the world instead of evil.
But more than just passively absorbing stories of good, we all need to find places that very tangibly give us nourishment and rest. We need to find our hope holes. And we need to go to them. Often.
I struggle with going to the places that nourish me. I don’t know why. Self-sabotage? Despair? The inertia of my couch?
I think sometimes I get so sunken into the mega-suck that seems to have become our national set-point (billionaires rigging elections and then doing the Nazi salute, the leader of our nation being a literal rapist, tech bootlickers rolling back fact-checking on social media sites that will most assuredly add to the disproportionate violence already experienced by vulnerable people groups, etc…) that I almost forget there’s life outside of that pit.
I often forget that it’s vital—absolutely vital—to practice sinking into my favorite places so I don’t sink into the Swamp of Sadness. I expect the mere witnessing of good things to sustain me when what I really need to do is find highly soul-lifting spots and marinate my toes and body in them, again and again.
We all need to, as the youth say, “touch grass.”
So if you’re feeling stressed lately, try to find your hole in the ground. Soak into a favorite spot, even if it’s your bathroom when you lock the door to have 2 minutes of alone time or it’s a patch of sunlight or it’s your car outside of work for a three-minute-sitting-dance-party song.
Find a space that gives joy to you, and be there a bit.
To nourishing our souls in whatever holes we find,
Annie B.
THREE GOOD THINGS
You know what can make ya feel good? Doing good! And you can tangibly do something good this week! My friend Lisa and her nurse colleagues are fighting Greedy Healthcare Co (Providence) for sustainable rights for themselves and their patients, and this Go Fund Me is keeping them alive. Give even a little!
Want to stay positive while still being informed? WTF Just Happened this Week is the one political newsletter I can trust to tell me about the shit that’s going on without making me feel…well, too shitty.
If you thought the hole I mentioned was just a hole—hah! Think again! It’s a sacred holy (hah) spot called St Patrick’s well, long believed to be a healing place that has cured ailments for horses, cattle, and humans alike!