Pandemic.
Global warming.
Racial reckoning.
Cold war.
World war.
Potential nuclear Armageddon.
It’s as if the most harrowing and tumultuous events of the 20th century have been resurrected and compressed into the last two years.
How do you go about the business of everyday life when it feels like the world could crumble around you at any moment?
We still have to go work, even as someone else hunkers down in a bomb shelter. We still have to make dinner even as someone else starves during a drought-fueled famine. We still have to do our laundry, even as someone else picks the outfit their loved one will be laid to rest in. We still get to settle into the comfort and safety of our homes, even as someone else is looking over their shoulder, afraid for their lives.
All the bad things we know — in the very back of our mind — that happen every day, all over the world, are all so real, so present, now that normalcy seems surreal.
We feel compelled to watch the news, to keep abreast of all the things happening, no matter how terrible, because it’s all so important. History is happening in front of our very eyes and it’s impossible to look away.
***
Breathe in through your nose.
Hold it.
Breathe out through your mouth.
Do it again. Keep repeating as much as you need. We haven’t taken the time to just breathe enough lately. It’s instinct to hold your breath as you brace for the worst.
Roll your neck and relax your shoulders. Unclench your fists and flex your fingers. Stretch your legs and wiggle your toes. Our bodies like to hold the world’s troubles in our muscles. Sometimes we consciously need to let them go.
So how do we get through this — this whirlpool of history on repeat that wants to drag us down?
We put one foot in front of the other. We do the laundry, and wash the dishes, and go to work, because, as much as we wish it would sometimes, the world doesn’t stop turning.
We help when and where and how we can. We donate, or volunteer, or raise awareness, because the history books won’t record our names, but they will immortalize the results of our efforts.
And we take it one day at a time, because the only certainty is the present. Even as we do our best to just live in the moment, we continue to hope for a better tomorrow.
