How to Hold Each Other Gently as We Practice Social Distancing
Okay, fam. Here are some things to know.
We're going through a thing. A big, long, turn the world upside down thing, the likes of which we have not seen before.
We are all going to move through a lot of emotions and states before it's over, and we're going to be there at different times. Someone sounds calm today because they freaked out two weeks ago. Someone else won't hit their first freak out until two weeks from now.
It's kind of like when bereavement hits a family--we need to make space for it to hit everyone differently and in their own timing.
This can feel discordant because if I'm someone who is trying to contain my world worries to pockets of morning and evening and carve some moment of focus or creation or noticing beauty in between, someone else's mid-day world worries might interrupt that. And seeing my moment of searching for light might feel tone-deaf or frivolous to someone who is in the reckoning.
It can't be avoided. We are too many and varied to always be in sync.
What to do?
Be compassionate.
Trust that we are all doing what we need to do moment by moment. For some this will look like trying to share information or sound alarms, for others it will look like turning off the news and channeling inner currents into something creative. Sometimes we will need to post a sunset or ten ways to eat rice and beans or just a note that says Help I'm Losing My Shit.
Allow yourself to share one more step than usual.
"Pausing to take in this sunset really helps right now because..." or "I'm refreshing news sites too often too but I forced a brush into my hand and turned the music up loud for just a little while." Hearing your process, or a hint of your *other side of this snapshot* will be a gift.
Let's lean into taking ourselves just as we are, and taking each other, too. Ebb. Flow. High. Low.
Love to you.