What a Time to Be Alive

And human.

I was reminded of my human-ness today. Not the language skills and opposable thumbs parts, but the tender parts that remember The Bad Things from before and invest unhelpful energy into worry about the things that have yet to come.

The anxious parts.

And also?

The gracious parts.

My triggers are my reminders that I have an opportunity to behave differently. To be grateful rather than spiteful, and graceful rather than resentful.

We are going to need a LOT of grace to get through this, and the excellent news is that there is an unending well of grace within each one of us.

Today, my experiences of grace included:
— Not super-soaker-sniping the gaggle of office workers who were walking quite close together, while I was prudently sheltering in place with a neurotic dog and a partner who prefers wide open spaces and plentiful time at home alone.

— Recognizing that sometimes when we ask for help, we are doing our best. And that when we offer help, we are doing our best, and that sometimes our bests are still not great.

I am still working to experience grace with national leadership.

In the meantime, I’m focusing on how to make the most of my time on pause and creating the sort of world that I’d like to emerge into. Below, you can see some of the things I’m up to. I’m keeping my mind busy without working myself into an intellectual frenzy.

I hope that in this time of pause, you are also able to embrace the parts of yourself that are anxious and those that offer grace.

They draw from the same well.