It's Always Something

In the immortal words of Gilda Radner, it’s always something. I believe a lot of us can relate to her sentiment, especially now.

The pandemic rocked the whole world. We froze. Time stood still. Everyday actions and movements were analyzed. You wondered if you just rubbed your nose with your hand and when the last time you washed it was (usually <10 minutes before). You realized the magnitude of simple, simple actions and that whole lives were lost due to such small, otherwise inconsequential incidents. One moment of exposure that slipped through the cracks. You wondered if it would be you next. If you have children, you probably thought about what would become of them if you suddenly fell ill and passed away. And while on that mental spin cycle, a lot of us quickly learned that while most of our lives had come to a standstill, the one thing that did continue to march on with a steady tempo was chaos.

Chaos was afoot. Whether it was learning to accomodate, and continuting to innovate and deliver during telework with all those various pitfalls (Zoom, emails, random phone calls and text messages at all hours of the day, dropped VPN), or WFH while parenting and schooling/daycaring from home and all that that delivered (our children and pets attending meetings). You may have lost an income, a job. Or maybe a loved one. You might have been an ad hoc, impromptu caregiver for loved ones with susceptible conditions. If you celebrated any holidays or rituals last year, you probably found that what you gained in depth by enjoying a "slow" holiday, you lost in width by a loss of relatives and friends you normally celebrate alongside. Not to mention the constant political turmoil, natural disasters, and civil rights injustices that kept playing out on repeat, day after day, week after week.

And here we are. We're returning to a new normal The work that is set ahead for us now is myriad and thorough from a worldwide, nationwide, state, county, city, community, and home-levels. And within. That’s what we'll be focusing on here: the care and work we do for ourselves, on ourselves.

The first step is learning to cope and live again amidst stress and chaos. We cannot wait to work on our wellbeing at some future date when things are calm or normal again. Because as Gilda (and incidentally, her father, too) would tell you, there's always something.