What I Learned at the Museum of Ice Cream

I’ve been trapped in a grind mentality lately, there’s so much going on all the time and the things I don’t get done each day weigh on me; my to-do list never gets shorter, and at times I let myself become haunted by it…making it hard to rest or find magic in the everyday. The reality is, at a certain point stress is a choice, and the more I subscribe to the thoughts that I’m “so busy” and “overwhelmed” the more joy and spontaneity I lose. Being conscious of these energies dragging me down comes and goes, so I now know I need to get out of my own head periodically in unusual ways…I didn’t realize that the Museum of Ice Cream would provide this outlet for me. As I frolicked with unicorns, wandered through a land of gummy bears, ate mochi in a mint jungle and waded in a pool of sprinkles, I reconnected with my inner kid in way that made me rethink life and the way I’m living it.  

I was obsessed with getting MOIC tickets for my niece, I figured it would add to her Snap streaks in a major way and thus score me good Aunt points. Simultaneously, I kind of thought it was a scam, like “How fun can this really be? But hey, at least there’s ice cream involved.” Wrong! From the moment we saw the ice cream vault (the SF location is in an old 1900s bank), I was feeling super giddy. The rainbow of colors, quality of fun ideas, enthusiasm from our group and the guides, as well as eating copious amounts of sugar did something to me, I could feel the negative cobwebs in my mind being cleared…I felt a sense of wonder and I really loved being drenched in it. The whole place is fun for fun’s sake and that’s rare. My fam and I tumbled into the streets of San Francisco in a euphoric haze, leaving a literal trail of vivid sprinkles behind us…

Ever since I’ve been thinking about how little wonder we allow to seep into our lives on a daily basis. It gets sidelined for “important” things like spreadsheets due at work, laundry, paying the bills, watching our weight, commuting and a zillion other responsibilities. The next thing you know, maybe you haven’t laughed really hard in a month or admired the clouds in the sky or sung along to a rad song and you wonder why you feel sucky. Hey, no projections here, maybe it’s just me. MOIC has inspired me to go on a wonder quest in my day-to-day life. Every day has magic in store for us if we take a beat to look around (I mean let’s face it, just waking up is a miracle) and I personally plan to make the effort to see it and enjoy it.

P.s. Thanks Maryellis Bunn, I appreciate your thoughtfully curated creativity and for jostling me out of my rut.