Another 70+ degree day as a balm for the times. I’m still stuck in the in between, not able to ease my brain into relaxation after months of tension. Today was historic.
I woke up this morning and read my book for an hour, and then we went across the street to play in the backyard with Bertram’s best friend Sawyer the Corgi. It’s a wonderful thing watching the two of them play joyfully in the leaves without a care in the world. We marveled at the news over coffee in the fall warm air. Then for a walk through the neighborhood. A short run. A decompress and rest yoga class. I made home made hamburger helper taco pasta with chicken, and now, I sit, trying to process the news.
I suspect that things will not dawn on me truly, until some day in mid-April, or June, or August, when there is nothing dramatic on the news at all. When the moment comes where the absence of chaos is palpable, noticeable, where all of a sudden we notice a silence and can breathe deeply once again.
I do not think for a moment that all is solved by an election. Democracy is action. Democracy is communication, collaboration, and building the world we want to live in. It is observing injustice and responding swiftly. It is noticing opportunities to work together, identifying shared values, and building and innovating together. I look forward to moving past this “in between” and getting back to the good, hard work of progress. I have hope for a better future.
On processing. It often takes me a good long while to process things – both joy and grief, celebration and sadness. I no longer concern myself that I’m not “doing it right” or that my emotions look different than others. We feel things how we feel them.
I mention this because if you too are having trouble processing the magnitude of things going on in this world in this day and age – and nobody has told you yet, with meaning, that it’s alright to process on your own time and in your own way – you deserve to hear it.
xo
Sam
