This is the summer interlude. A check-in with a promise. Although I doubt any of you are waiting with bated breath for my next missive, I promised myself that I would make this a more regular occurrence.
It’s summer and we’re in a big transition phase here. Liv has graduated 5th grade and is moving to middle school. We are emerging slowly from the pandemic and still keeping an eye on those variants and the vaccination rate. I’m still in the process of mourning and grieving and processing.
My sense is that the grueling grind of capitalism will not let us pause and reflect and take stock. I understand that people have been itching for things to return to normal. But what is normal? And why wouldn’t you use this opportunity to think about how we could do things better? I honestly don’t understand how leaders are acting the same way they did before the pandemic. If we want the world to be better, we have to adjust to the new coming out of the pandemic, which is we need a major shift in priorities. My family matters more to me than anything else. Poetry saved me during this dark time. Having dinner with friends, not getting back to my desk in the office, is what I dreamt of.
Part of what we need to do now is rest, as we are able. To let ourselves fall apart, perhaps. Throughout the pandemic, it’s been hard to fully articulate what was happening inside us and how that was ricocheting between us. Now, we are in a new moment, called to feel what we need to feel, to find words and new intelligence of practice in all the spaces we inhabit and work in and relate in. To acknowledge what we’ve survived, what we’ve lost, what we’ve begun to learn.
Krista Tippet – The Pause Newsletter from On Being
I have decided that I will feel no urgency for the grind. I will bask in my own pace. I will dwell in my authentic space while also seeking out things that make me happy. We have visited the MFA and looked at Basquiats and Renoirs and medieval demons. We went to deCordova and looked at artists who document social uprisings and use art for social justice. We pondered the idea of a Confederate Flag of Truce. We listened to music and ate donuts.
Somewhere along the way, I have planted flowers because blooms make me happy. I read regency romance novels and Victorian mysteries because they make me happy. I spend hours doing crossword puzzles with Patrick, going to the library with Liv, and taking more deep breaths. Make me happy repair me and prepare me for doing the work.
I hope change is in the air. I need it. We all deserve better.