{"id":1712,"date":"2026-03-25T19:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildpoise.com\/?p=1712"},"modified":"2026-05-07T17:57:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:57:48","slug":"a-spark-of-mischief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildpoise.com\/?p=1712","title":{"rendered":"A Spark of Mischief"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A Spark of Mischief<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Day 58 – January 20, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something unexpected showed up today. Mischief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not chaos. Not recklessness. Not the kind of energy that blows up your life and then stands there in heels and a cute bra pretending it was freedom. I mean something smaller. Smarter. More delicious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A little spark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The playful part of me. The observant little menace. The one that notices absurd things about people and life and lets out that quiet private smile like, oh, that is deeply ridiculous and I\u2019m absolutely keeping it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was sitting with my coffee this morning when a random thought popped into my head. Something silly, slightly sarcastic, and uncomfortably accurate about human behavior. The kind of thought that would make a certain kind of person laugh and a certain other kind of person feel very seen in a way they might not enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I laughed. Out loud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It startled me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not because I\u2019m unfamiliar with laughter, obviously. I\u2019m pretty funny at times and have the good sense to know it. But because laughter has not exactly been the loudest sound in my life this past year. Fear has been louder. Survival has been louder. Memory has been louder. Even silence has been louder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was easy. It was unforced. It was weirdly alive. It was the kind of laugh that slips out before your grief can put on its glasses and ask who approved this. And for a second, I felt something that almost made me emotional in the most irritating possible way. Recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The girl who used to move through the world noticing strange little details, privately amused by people, by patterns, by the absurdity of being alive in a world that loves denial and decorative self-importance? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is still in here. She didn\u2019t disappear. She just got buried under heavier things for a while. And honestly, fair enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trauma is a terrible environment for playfulness. It doesn\u2019t exactly encourage whimsy. Your brain gets very focused when it thinks your life is under threat. It narrows. It prioritizes. It strips everything down to function. Which is useful for surviving, but a terrible way to live forever if you happen to be someone whose mind is built for delight, curiosity, danger, beauty, and the occasional well placed mental eyebrow raise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That part of me matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mischievous part. The irreverent part. The sharp little sexy ass dark fairy part that notices when the emperor has no clothes and wants to make it funny instead of pretending not to see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That part is not just personality. It is life force. It is one of the ways I know I belong to myself. Because when I lose access to that spark, the world gets flatter. It gets meaner and less dimensional. And maybe that\u2019s part of why this tiny moment mattered so much today. It wasn\u2019t just a laugh. It was evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evidence that joy can return in weird shapes. Evidence that humor can walk back into the room after horror and not ask permission. Evidence that a woman can survive the ugliest things and still find people faintly ridiculous in a way that keeps her heart from hardening completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roger tried to eat a leaf during our walk and then looked deeply betrayed by the entire concept of leaves when it didn\u2019t deliver the experience he expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His mischief remains unmatched. His standards remain unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But mine is coming back too. And there\u2019s something very satisfying about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because mischief, at least the good kind, is a refusal. A refusal to let pain become the only tone in the room. A refusal to let the world flatten you into solemnity. A refusal to be reduced to your wounds when your wit is still alive and sharpening itself against the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That feels like power to me. The kind that smiles before it speaks. The kind that notices everything. The kind that makes people laugh and get nervous in the same breath. My favorite kind. Obviously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chaos in one hand. Grace in the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And a spark of mischief returning to the room like she pays rent here and intends to redecorate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 58 – Something unexpected showed up today. Mischief. Not chaos. Not recklessness. Just that playful little spark that used to live somewhere in the center of my personality. The part of me that notices strange things about…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chaos-and-grace"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Spark of Mischief - Wild Poise<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A raw, reflective entry journal entry - honest thoughts on healing, resilience, uncertainty, and rebuilding life one day at a time.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wildpoise.com\/?p=1712\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Spark of Mischief - 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