A statement of hope

This post from Holly Whitaker has stuck with me all week, I hope it helps you the way it helped me.

“It’s not the pandemic that is breaking us, it’s the system revealing itself. A system that reduces the value of caregiving, that operates off the backs of the most vulnerable, that keeps us all focused on our own survival instead of each other’s; separate instead of whole.

I keep scrolling through Instagram and I see humour and meditations and book lists and community gatherings; organizing and pooling of resources to redistribute; so many offerings of hope and courage and a new sensitivity to the severe precariousness of our existence, others existence; I also see a lot of stupid shit, but I am paying attention to the way we come together.

This is a new normal; it will not go back to the way it was and that is a statement of hope. I hope we use this as a time to understand the absolute value of caregiving, that gig economy, service industry workers and all labourers need health insurance, leave, fundamental protections; our entire people need health insurance; kids need food and not just when they go to school; productivity is a lie; people need people; flexible work arrangements and caregiving responsibilities are intrinsically tied; we have enough if we share; we are resilient; we are good we are good we are good; we are not separate, but a glow of red dots bleeding into a sea of red, connected on the most fundamental level.

Here is how I am: shaking, exhausted from working with our folks at T to figure out how to deploy support groups; drained bc this is a lot, collectively and personally this is so much; stir crazy from being alone with my cat for too long and yet only 6 days; missing people; finding meaning in this, finding ways to act locally in my life, not my platform; on group texts w my family, my friends, my team; learning to bake an apple pie; giving myself a break from being what I think I’m supposed to be being in this moment; meditating; dancing by myself; sending gratitude lists to Tracy; reading reading reading; writing, the next book, posts for my old blog; living not surviving; loving people more each day; full of the knowledge we will make beautiful things from this.”

Here is how I am: I’m deep in several “FFT’s” as Brene Brown calls them (Fucking First Times) ; trying to raise capital for my business; trying to immigrate to Sweden; learning to be a parent; face timing my family in Scotland every day; Whatsapping my friends who make me laugh every day; dancing to the Mary Poppins soundtrack; blogging; tweeting; making videos that will help others; going a run every morning; feeling the joy of my wee boy waking up every day and being able to say new words that he couldn’t say yesterday; learning to hold hope and anger at the same time; full of the knowledge we will come out of this smarter and more humble.

How are you today? Really, how are you today? Right now?