Morning Reflections in a Fractured World
By Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita
It’s a beautiful sunny morning. I slept okay. I have coffee.
I’m grateful — for the small things, the quiet moments that anchor me while the world spins out in so many directions.
But every morning comes with a flood of chaos too —
especially if I pick up my phone too soon.
I read something about cortisol — how grabbing our phones right when we wake up spikes it, setting our nervous system on edge before we’ve even stretched.
And we wonder why we’re anxious.
Phones.
They’ve connected and disconnected us all at once.
In just 23 years — my child’s entire lifetime — the phone became the portal to everything: the news, the horror, the heartbreak, the dopamine, the lies.
I used to dream of a camera in my eye —
now we carry one in our hand, and it watches us back.
This Morning’s Headlines...
I read about a man whose wife was taken by ICE.
And yet — he still supports Trump. Keeps the flag up.
People call it a cult — maybe that’s the only explanation.
Then in Canada, I read a post suggesting that if countries like Canada or Japan called in the U.S. debt, it could bankrupt them.
And Carney — in a cowboy hat at the Stampede — saying he might push for a pipeline.
Here we go again...
Trudeau promised no pipelines — then pushed through LNG and TMX like we didn’t matter.
Now the Arctic is in danger again. Russia’s drilling.
And we wonder why our kids are a mess.
I Remember When...
We used to get the news once a day.
At 6 p.m.
If you missed it, maybe you caught it in the paper the next morning.
I remember when The Province shut down its photo lab in 1995.
I was just finishing my photography diploma at Langara.
They bought digital cameras — 10 megapixels and $10,000 each.
Back then we learned on 4x5 and medium format.
35mm wasn’t considered professional.
We carried heavy portfolios and guarded them like gold.
I dreamed of an iPod — so I could show my photos without risk.
Instead, the dream came in a phone — and now I barely want to look at the world it shows me.
We Are Numbed by Noise
Now the news wakes us up before we do.
It’s not even 7:30 a.m. and I’ve already read about detentions, cults, bankrupt countries, pipelines, climate collapse, and ICE stealing children.
I don’t live in the U.S.
But I’ve known women who’ve had to stay silent in homes with men who wave those same flags.
I think about all the women who disappeared.
The children separated from their mothers.
And here in Canada —
I just read that Pickton was killed in prison.
I’d somehow forgotten. Or blocked it out.
All the women the police ignored. That case haunted us.
I was pregnant when it was unfolding — trying not to watch, not to let it into my dreams.
It’s different when you’re carrying life and surrounded by death.
What If Phones Were Outlawed?
What if one day, phones are banned?
Outlawed like drugs.
Maybe like in China — where control is masked as peace, and the illusion of happiness keeps people quiet.
They say less is more, right?
Until we had too much.
Now we crave silence again.
Final Thought for Today:
We need to dream again.
But this time, not of blinking cameras or endless scrolls.
We need to dream of gardens.
Of slow mornings.
Of people laughing together in real life.
We need to dream our way out of this mess.
Posted by Zipolita
www.tinawinterlik.blogspot.com
Instagram: @zipolita
YouTube: @zipolita
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