rising

photo cred: Leila Bandringa on Unsplash

Hi there. You know what’s keeping me afloat right now? Art. Not only the kind that hangs on my walls bringing me never ending joy, but those of you out there using your creativity to make things more bearable and beautiful right now. Be it bread, the way you make the bed with neat tucked in corners or the way you work tirelessly to be the change you wish to see in the world. And those of you taking care of people lovingly and patiently, thank you.

I mean it, THANK YOU!

I watched Becoming, the documentary on Michelle Obama, recently. Thanks to my brother for telling me about it. I highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it. The way she shows up for young girls around the world is awe-inspiring. Her kindness and compassion, the bullshit she has gone though with people judging her, the media being hurtful…she just keeps her head down and keeps working, doing what she knows is right and rising, rising, rising.

Such a lesson in this…keep doing your work, head down, focus, quiet the noise - the internal and external variety. You know the way.

I am also listening to the new Taylor Swift album, Folklore. It’s driving my family crazy because it’s all I want to listen to. This feels like an album in the truest sense of the word. One you want to listen to from start to finish. One you want to sit on the floor with, look at the cover, hold in your hands so you can read all of the pretty lyrics. Her singing about invisible strings tying us together and the woman who owned the mansion she bought in Rhode Island who had a marvelous time ruining everything, feels like an anthem I am totally digging while driving in my car sitting smack dab in the middle of the weirdest summer in the books.

Speaking of books, I have read some good ones, fiction and non-fiction alike. Lovers and Writers by Lily King I devoured and missed when I put it down, and Untamed by Glennon Doyle was the perfect companion during the beginning of quarantine days.

Now I am getting kids ready for back to school, fooling myself into thinking things are normal by sprinkling haircuts and new shoes into the mix. Are we signing up for in person after school activities? Virtual school or in person? We all have big opinions about this.

I am not sure I could return to the pace we were at before all of this started. Less is more and driving around a lot is not all that enjoyable. Simplicity is a blessing. But Lord have mercy, do we need to get out of the house! Seeing friends has never been more exciting!

I am also learning how to deal with my child’s anxiety. It has been lonely, scary, exhausting, frustrating, and sad to witness. We are getting help. I am grateful we have the means to do so because so much of it is out of pocket. And this pisses me off and makes me want to do something helpful in regards to making mental and emotional health more accessible for everyone.

We are putting our worries in imaginative worry boxes (you can make one too and then rip the pieces of paper up…be gone nasty ass worries) and revisiting them later at a set time. We don’t want to spend all day tending to the worries because we don’t want them to grow like weeds and take over the entire landscape of our lives. We talk about them once a day and this seems to prevent them from spiraling out of control. Usually after dinner. Check out the book, Outsmarting Worry by Dawn Huebner for more on this.

I am not sure the point exactly of this post. I don’t think there is one, other than worry and anxiety suck and the indecisive, uncertain, unstructured time we are living in doesn't help. But the future is always uncertain. And there is so much to look forward to.

Thank goodness for creativity because movies, books, and podcasts are the biggest blessing right now. Oh and Dax Shephard’s Armchair Expert podcast has been filling me up with goodness and laughs. I really really crave vulnerability and honesty right now and Dax is not afraid to show us this.

Anyway, may we all realize how important art is in regards to education and our well-being. Invest in it, support it, and make it!

Art saves souls. It is certainly saving mine.

And let’s all throw each other a bone right now. It’s a mess out there but we love each other and need each other, we’re trying our best, and the sunsets are still gorgeous, ablaze with oranges and purples that make us feel alive, at peace, and hopeful in our hearts. Our hearts, the most important place of all.