when the streets went quiet: find good, don't feed fear

How y’all doin’? Everything feels a little crazy right now, huh?

So it looks like the country (the world?) is collectively canceled. Indefinitely. And everybody has some feelings about it.

Are we overreacting? Under reacting? Whose fault is it? What do we tell the kids? What do we DO with the kids? WHY ARE WE BUYING SO MUCH TOILET PAPER?!??

Can we just stop for a second? Separate ourselves from the sense of impending doom creeping around outside of our homes.

Try to find some hope within the chaos.

While most of the world is in a panic about the virus, or mad about people being in a panic about the virus, or straight-up pretending that everything is fine and just ignoring the virus- no one seems to be trying to find the good, despite the situation we are in.

We can not control this. We cannot control the media or how people react to the media or how people react to the people reacting to the media.

Yes, we are going to struggle, some of us much more than others.

Yes, people are going to get sick.

Yes, people are going to die.

It totally sucks. It’s shitty and sad.

This situation exists despite how annoyed or scared we are about it.

It is out of our control.

Read that again.

What we do have control over is how we react. How we decide to move forward now is what will make or break us.

So what do we do?

We, as a society, are being presented with a unique opportunity. We are being forced to stop in our tracks and sit still. If you tune out all the fear for a minute you’ll realize that it could be kind of amazing. Like, this is kind of what humans need. A break from the busy. A break from doing all the things, all the time. More time with our family. More time with ourselves. Rest and reset.

We all have opinions and questions about what is happening in the world right now. But what we are failing to recognize in this sudden upheaval of business as usual, is the value of the sudden upheaval in our busy-ness as usual.

I say this despite the fact that my husband works in a restaurant and even if he gets to keep going to work, he won’t be making what he normally does. I’m a SAHM and we rely on his income to pay for everything. As a family of four, we have a lot of plates spinning. We are in debt and live month to month. I am aware of the gravity here. I’m just choosing not to let myself get mentally wrecked about something I can not do anything about. (Except to keep my ass at home).

I guess I am handling this well because my world hasn’t felt regular to me for a while anyway. What began as just a “Mom-life Crisis” over a year ago has turned into something so much bigger. My brain has been changing so quickly that the rapid change in the world feels almost normal to me right now. I welcome this pause. I welcome this disruption of our regularly scheduled programming. I welcome this mandatory revolution. I’ll press the reset button myself.

It feels star-crossed. The way the world unapologetically unfolds despite what humans do to manipulate and destroy it. Is it possible that humans are the virus and the planet is healing itself of us? Making everyone slow down and stay home is decreasing air and water pollution on accident. Have you seen the canals in Venice? Just two weeks ago they were gross and murky and toxic. They are running clear now, you guys. CLEAR. Just sayin’.

When I decided to start this blog, I did it with the intention to help people heal. Or actually, to help people learn how to heal themselves. I can’t heal you. I’m down here in the trenches too. I’m still learning how to care for myself and love myself and heal myself. You gotta do your own work. And yes, it takes work to heal. Work that most of us don’t have the time to do in the constant busy-ness of our regular lives.

Well, guess what?

You got the time now, bitches.*

So can we just pause?

Can we try to stop putting negative crap out into the world?

Can you imagine with me that all the snark and all the eye rolls and all the blaming and the judging and the hoarding is a dark ominous cloud of nastiness that is only growing darker with every little cynical grump you emit? Out into our living space that we are confined to indefinitely no less. I know it sounds a little hocus pocusy to acknowledge energy as an entity that we control, but as an empath, I feel that shit. So please stop. For your benefit and the benefit of our collective consciousness.

Also, we really weren’t doing all that good, to begin with. I was ready to burn it all down anyway. A majority of the country is struggling somehow. Financially, medically, and/or mentally. Suicide rates are climbing. We are in the middle of a medically induced opioid crisis. Healthcare is impossible. America is not that “great”. Not with all the anger and hatred flying from both sides of the political spectrum. Not while people are ending lifelong friendships and cutting off relatives because we refuse to open our hearts and imagine life from someone else’s perspective. Every single opinion a person has gets categorized into left or right, red or blue, us or them. I see this pandemic as an opportunity to fill the cracks and see each other as humans again.

This is a good thing. We are being forced to get along. For the first time in a long time, we are seeing a spark of unity across partisan lines. Our survival depends on it. The do-gooders are popping up all over the place and we are already loving each other a little bit more. Of course, there are stubborn extremists who just won’t participate no matter what and I’m still holding space for them. But don’t be one of them!

Choose the good.

Join me in the light.

Find out how to help.

What do you have to offer (from at least a six-foot distance) and who needs it?

So whatever it is that you believe in- whatever higher power guides you through this life. Do you feel the pull? This is a cosmic intervention by whatever means necessary.

Stay home. Protect each other. Love each other. We got this.

*I’m sorry I called you all bitches earlier.