The Perfect Storm

Artist: June August

The air feels heavy these past few weeks like we’ve been living through the perfect storm. The upcoming election, an ongoing pandemic and the recent loss of iconic Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg: these are weighty times!

During difficult moments of upheaval, resilience takes on a whole new meaning. Its less about thriving and more about surviving. Can we learn to shoulder the storm while keeping our well-being intact? Yes, we can!

The Tea on Stress

We can all appreciate a soothing cup of tea on a stormy day, so let’s start there.  As we live through these challenging times, our bodies and minds start acting like tea kettles (below).  It’s inevitable to get rattled from the heat of current events.  That’s a normal reaction to this abnormal situation.  And while we can’t dial down the heat of these pandemic election times, we can successfully learn to harness a few key strategies to blow off some therapeutic steam.

Whether its limiting media use, scheduling an
early bedtime, or committing to a short walk everyday, the time to engage in these resilience-building habits is now!  Whatever your resilience outlet of choice, creating space and structure for it right now in the midst of this cacophony can have a huge impact on how we experience, internalize and ultimately move through these next few months.

When we do better we feel better, and the work of doing can get us there one resilience-building habit at a time.  Showing up for ourselves in a nurturing and compassionate way right now can build up our internal reserves, and that can have a lasting impact on our resilience for the long haul.  

You Are The Sky 

Pema Chodron, the famous Buddhist monk, once said, “You are the sky, everything else is just the weather.”  She’s right.  We can’t change the weather of these tumultuous times.  But we can equip ourselves with a sturdy raincoat to protect us from its harsh elements. 

Resilience is the raincoat that can keep you warm, safe and dry.  Its already brought you this far! 

So for the next month, stay as resilient as possible, and please vote!  Our individual and collective resilience depends on it!

This story was published on October 1st, 2021