We Can Do Hard Things and We’ll Keep Doing Them
A Pep Talk to Myself and Others Who Could Use It Right Now
So that this team talk flows more realistically, let me first channel my inner Eeyore. I don’t think a new year, new leadership, and a safe, effective vaccine will solve all our problems. Also, I don’t think there will be a “normal” to return to that will be familiar to us.
Yet, as this wild ass year wraps up, there is one thing I know to be true — we are all capable of getting through really hard things.
This time has taught me that, and it’s huge. We owe ourselves some serious snaps and love. Just think about it. If you were standing at the beginning of this year and knew what was coming and about to unravel, could you see yourself being able to handle all of it? I say hell no to myself. But guess what? We did. We are.
We are weathering a global health crisis that has taken from us in too many painful ways. We have been forced to grapple with our own mortality, and grieve our dearest ones. More people than ever before woke up to that fact that the right to take a breath is not something guaranteed to everyone as it should be. All our ancestors are waiting for us to face, reflect and heal what they were not able to. Those of us with children and other caregiving responsibilities had to try and make it all work when we were feeling all the things, all the time. Relationships of all sorts are being tested in ways that are pressing us to face deep truths about ourselves and others. We miss our friends and family. We miss the little things, like hugs and high-fives for me. And we live in a world that’s hurting all around — from climate change to health care to basic kindness and decency towards one another. It’s all been relentless and we’re tired.
And yet, amidst all of this really hard shit, I’m really blown away by how we are making it through. Whether by choice or not, we have elevated our game. We’ve adapted to a new level of resilience and resourcefulness. And I’m proud of us. I’m in awe and grateful to all of you out there — for trying, for doing what you can every day especially when it feels insurmountable.
Don’t get me wrong. There’s already a lot on our plates to manage that’s not going away, and it seems that some of the work may only be starting. Many of the issues that emerged this year are not new but the momentum and urgency around them has opened windows big and small to shift, re-imagine and transform. For example, what do our children need to truly be learning, growing and thriving in our world today? Can we update our methods of education and support our educators so they can respond to those needs? Are there better alternatives to ensure safety and wellbeing for everyone in our neighborhoods that we can build together? Do each of us have just a little more room for forgiveness and compassion towards the people we think don’t deserve it?
Though we may continue to be exhausted, worried, sad and a roller coaster of other things on any given day, I can’t help but feel some hope. Not because 2020 is closing out and we’re all good. Or that all of the crap things before us will magically disappear. But because it’s clear and profound that we have it in us as fellow humans to keep going, and do things we never thought we could do. And with our masks on.
I hope we can give ourselves a minute or many to rest in that knowing. We deserve it.
