It has seemed to me lately that my dining room/office/window to the world is getting smaller and smaller. So it was with great relief that I took a few days last week to meet some friends at an AirBnB we rented in the middle of nowhere in southern Ohio. This was vacation pandemic-style. Essentially trading one room for another. But the standard that I measured all choices by was, Is it my dining room? And no, it was not. Plus it was great to talk to people in three dimensions instead of always by Zoom.
We did everything we could to be safe. We disinfected when we got there, we brought our own food and cooked most of our own meals. I brought my own pillow cases. It was almost comical what choices we made to protect ourselves. And it was great. Really a nice few days.
I was a little surprised the second afternoon that all I really wanted to do was nap. I was so tired. We were all yawning a lot, and had several conversations about how weary we were. Pandemics and radical social change are definitely exhausting. So we napped, which was helpful. However, I am still tired, and no amount of napping or sleeping a good number of hours seems to take care of it.
I think this has to do with grief, and anxiety, and helplessness. The heat doesn’t help either. But mostly, this is emotional. So let’s be honest. We are all feeling weary, all tired of the current status quo, all acknowledging that even if we had energy there isn’t the usual options for expressing it. We are all struggling.
So take care of yourself. Safely, intentionally, in a heathy way, take care of yourself. This isn’t the time for overachievement. This is a time for steady, reasonable self-care. Don’t feel guilty about it, just do it. We have to see this as the marathon that it is. Take good care of yourself!
I will be praying for you!!