The last weeks, and especially days, have been tough. I have been getting kind of sad. I’ve been feeling like there is, in effect, virtually nothing I can do for myself, my friends, my family, or for my employer that feels like it has much meaning in a bigger sense of what was happening in the world.

We all have our roles, and we all have our burdens. Don’t make the mistake of trivializing what you are going through just because it looks different.

Fact check: I am not a health care worker, or a provider of an essential service. I have no special skills that are meaningful in this global pandemic that can be used to promote the greater good. Staying home and keeping myself, and others around me safe…from myself, and others around me…hardly seems like a worthy pursuit. Yet, there can be a solace in it, if you let it be enough.

Getting Through The Hard Moments

This is a life-defining, historic time in all of our lives. Regardless of your level of privilege, or your country of residence. Whether you have been sick, whether you are terrified of becoming sick, or whether you have lost a loved one. Whether you are on the front lines fighting the disease or fighting desperately to make it through the telephone lines to claim unemployment benefits. There is one thing we all know: we have never seen a time like this before in any of our lives.

Maintain your “you”ness

Some of us will have much larger roles to play in the fight and eventual recovery from this pandemic. That doesn’t mean, just because you are one of the lucky ones who is “just” working to shelter in place and maintain a semblance of sanity, that you are not doing enough. We all have our roles, and we all have our burdens. Don’t make the mistake of trivializing what you are going through just because it looks different than the doctor next door, or your friend working to keep the shelves stocked at your local grocery store.

Shop My Look

So, rather than wallow, focus on what you can do. Stay distant, yes. Stay safe, also yes. Stay aware, absolutely you must. Even more important, you must maintain your “you”ness. Your sense of self. Whether that means you rest comfortably in a state of hibernation awaiting the Spring of new growth that will come following this Winter of panic and pandemic. Whether it means you reach out to help your community, or learn new skills during your time of isolation. You have a part to play, and you don’t need to feel as if you are “less than” for not playing someone else’s part.

Don’t hesitate to let yourself grieve for losing the life you thought you would live this year.

There is a viral poem, going around and around the internet, that I can’t help but post here:

And people stayed at home
And read books
And listened
And they rested
And did exercises
And made art and played
And learned new ways of being
And stopped and listened
More deeply
Someone meditated, someone prayed
Someone met their shadow
And people began to think differently
And people healed.
And in the absence of people who
Lived in ignorant ways
Dangerous, meaningless and heartless,
The earth also began to heal
And when the danger ended and
People found themselves
They grieved for the dead
And made new choices
And dreamed of new visions
And created new ways of living
And completely healed the earth
Just as they were healed.

– Catherine M. O’Meara

If we are enough, if we have enough, let it be enough. Don’t flagellate yourself for gaining a few pounds, or being less productive than you’d like. Don’t hesitate to let yourself grieve for anyone close to you experiencing heartache, or for the world at large experiencing a massive rift and a shaken foundation. Don’t hesitate to let yourself grieve for losing the life you thought you would live this year. You cannot compare the you of today to the you of yesterday. Yesterday was a different reality.

Let it be enough.

Did you manage to reach out to someone who needs to hear from you today? Did you manage to feed your spouse, or your children? Let it be enough. Did you manage to make a few extra dollars for a local business for which every dollar is meaningful? Did you manage to make it through the day without losing your mind? Let it be enough.

Let it be enough.

You are facing this challenge, in the best way that you know how. You are supporting those you can support. You are asking for support from those who can give it. Let it be enough. Today looked different than the day that came before. Tomorrow will be different still. You will face the day, as you have faced the days that came before, and you will make it through. It might be life-changing, or it might be uneventful. Let it be enough.

Let it be enough.

Once you have allowed the reality of who you are and what you can do sink in, know that you have a part to play. It might just be to keep yourself isolated. It might be to be a leader in your job and keep your team working and productive even in the face of a weird work from home situation. It might be to help another family’s children. It might be to battle the pandemic on the front lines in the clinics and the hospitals around the world. It might be to write as many small business loans as you can for your community. Whatever it is, let it be enough. Know that your part is an important part of the greater whole. Let it be enough.

After all, we are not in the midst of a social, political, or economic crisis. We are in the midst of a human crisis. This means each human’s individual contribution is meaningful, no matter how big or how small. Let it be enough.

XOXO,