Like so many of you I’m trying to balance a lot right now. My new responsibilities as a homeschool teacher, my career - aka passion - Whitney/Strong, and the intense and all-consuming anxiety that comes with experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.
I’m certain my heightened nerves are primarily due to my experience on 9/6/18. Usually, I avoid thinking about that harrowing minute before the Cincinnati Police Department arrived at all costs. Yet, in the uncertainty of this moment I find myself revisiting it unknowingly. Instead of processing the pandemic in a measured way with a healthy dose of caution, my brain uncontrollably leaps to the worst-case scenario.
At times the anxiety can feel suffocating, and I know I am not alone.
I don’t think it takes a near-death experience to appreciate the severity of this moment. I imagine trauma, of all kinds, has made this period difficult for so many of you. Nor, do I diminish any of the biological reasons why anxiety creeps into the brain. I hold every one of you in my thoughts and prayers as you move forward so bravely.
While we may have very different triggers, I believe we could all benefit from viewing this pandemic through the lenses of optimism and compassion.
It’s only been four days since my family has self-imposed quarantine, and I can already see the silver lining. Perhaps my thoughts can help you too.
What makes me feel peaceful:
The mobilization around small businesses, non-profits, vulnerable populations, etc. You have no shortage of opportunities to help others – within your circle you can buy gift cards from small businesses, pay for lessons that go unused, fund GoFundMe accounts, reach out to the elderly and offer to bring them supplies, and so many other ways. Outside of your circle is important too. Reach out to the experts entrenched within the community and ask what you can do to help. Sometimes it’s the less obvious solutions that run the highest risk of being ignored. Put energy into helping others and push out those thoughts of anxiety.
Time is slowing down, for most of us. God bless the medical personnel, government officials, law enforcement, and others who cannot slow down. But for those of us navigating a new world we don’t recognize, take a big breath. When is the last time you walked daily with your children? Called your parents and extended family members regularly to check in? Found time to teach your kids the importance of sending cards just to say, “I’m thinking about you”. Played board games? Solved puzzles? This way of living had all but become obsolete.
Empathy is in abundance. I’ve found myself thinking quite a bit about what it must be like to feel anxious constantly as an immunosuppressed person, particularly someone with cancer. We are getting a glimpse into this mindset and should come out of this pandemic as friends and family members better prepared to compassionately assist them in their moment of need.
Derby is now the Saturday of Labor Day! Seriously, whether it’s The Derby or any other celebratory moment, we need something to look forward to, right now. Doing Derby in early September sounds like an amazing opportunity to honor a cherished tradition and reinvigorate the economy with some well-deserved fun.
I recognize that my view on this pandemic is only that, my view. I know it will help some and for others, it will feel quite foreign. I’ve been thinking about all of you a lot and the role Whitney/Strong must play at this time. I look forward to sharing more soon. Until then, I will leave you with this beautiful poem written by Brother Richard Hendrick on 3/13/20.
Lockdown
Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
-from Richard Hendrick (Brother Richard) in Ireland
March 13th 2020