Thoughts are like string lights

When string lights start to fall, catch them.

Don’t let the whole string collapse.

Thoughts are like string lights, you know, the ones that get hung in outdoor spaces and in art studios and in dorm rooms and on Christmas trees. I like string lights, the way they dangle a little, sparkle, and just plain feel cheery.

Our thoughts are the individual lights that roll along the gentle rise and fall of the string. Until inevitably this happens: part of the string falls after a wind flies through, a foreign object flies through, or the installation method simply fails to hold.

Maybe you’re a person—like me—who keeps pulling the string up into place a thousand times while rebalancing the weight of the lights just so. Or maybe you’re a person who realizes immediately that you need a new attachment method. So, you stick on new hooks, push in tacks, or find a hammer. The hammer is a last resort, for me anyway—I still want my string lights to look rolling and wispy—but if you get desperate enough, you get your hammer. Something needs to be done.

It actually doesn’t matter how you fix fallen string lights. The critical piece is noticing that they’re falling in the first place. It’s easy to miss, especially if they’ve been up for a while and have become part of your everyday life. You might even half notice them and think: Well, that doesn’t look too bad.

My string lights became vertical when I was sick recently (here in case you missed it), hanging down and flapping with no support in that wind that flew through. As I imagine most people are, I’m more vulnerable to this when I’m overwhelmed, overtired, or over-everything.

I got kind of lucky when I was sick, which I can’t believe I’m saying because I was so miserable, but when my string lights fell, the last light on that familiar line wasn’t on the string anymore. “This world is not for me” was a nearby light sticking to the wall but not directly attached to the string anymore. And it was much easier to pull myself up, I mean pull up the string lights, without the weight of that last light.

Notice when your lights have started to fall. Take action to fix them. You don’t want the whole string crashing.