This is such a confusing time! What is really going on? What is true? Who is speaking in a way I can hear and rely on? What is next? How much can I count on? What the heck is NEXT?
Times like these trigger us in many ways. We can have past experiences and our coping mechanisms spring into full force. We can exhaust ourselves with news and the internet trying to ‘do the right thing’. We can live in fear and burnout from pretending like we are fine and all is well. We can experience stress from the anxiety about the future. Old insecurities can come back to haunt us. And for no real reason other than we are confused. A lot!
So now what? Can we return to what we knew and expected 4 months ago? No! Can we predict what is going to happen in the future and start in that direction? No again! So that only leaves us with today. Yikes! But today is uncomfortable, and full of the unknown. Today is unreliable and full of chaos and bad news. But it is all we have.
How are you? No really. Take a moment and take stock of how you are doing right now. Consider your mental, emotional and physical state. Sense into your spiritual connection. How is your closest relationship faring? How are your kids and/or pets doing? How are you doing around time and task? How’s your money? I know it’s a lot to consider, but the alternative is denial, numbness, acting out, ignorance or transference. So take a look around. What is ok and what needs attention? Where are you wasting time on low value activities? How can you take better care of yourself?
Start sharing your state and insights with others. Ask for support. Be careful of hiding out in focusing on and taking care of others. Make sure there is some give and take. And make sure you ‘leave a little in the gas tank.’ Resist the urge to go to empty. Resist the urge to overindulge, as well. These are strange times. Go slow. Be kind. Be gentle.
Until next time...
Hans