Take care

I sent the following note to my current clients this morning, and a few of them asked me to share it more widely, so here it is:

Hi friends,

The news is grim. I want to share two things that have been helpful for me and others on similarly dark days.

First, as you have oft heard from me, grief needs space and attention. Refusing to grieve is like wrapping a wound too tight—it can’t heal without light and air. We need to acknowledge it, to listen to what it’s telling us, to be patient with it. To accept it.

The same is true for fear.

Second, the work is still the work. Even if we had better news this morning, there would still be work to do. There’s the work that brings in wages so we can care for ourselves and our kin, there’s the work in our neighborhoods and communities, the work of our art. All of it is still with us; much of it will be even more critical in the days ahead. And much of that work is truly life-giving, not only in that it creates the conditions for life but that it allows us to use our gifts, to see the change we can make in the world around us. However frightened and sad we are today (and I assure you, I am both of those things!), there’s work that needs doing in the world and we are the ones to do it.

Rest up and take care today, in whatever way feels right to you.

With love and solidarity,
mandy