It’s so easy for me to get impatient for some unspecified time in the future when things are better… easier. But it’s been really important for me to remember not to disengage from the current moment- it’s turmoil, grief, and even joy.
I think that every day of this year so far, I’ve heard a friend share a devastating loss.
A grandparent who passed away.
A parent.
A friend who went missing.
Add that to the social and political state of crisis, the exhaustion of the pandemic, and the deprivation of so many things that bring us joy, and I think it’s safe to say we’re all pretty much in a season we can’t wait to put behind us.
I know we’re all looking forward to the point on the horizon when “all this will be over” and it’s frustrating to not even have a clear sense of when that will be.
I think it’s important to remember that this moment is also life. And so much of like actually happens in these moments we wish we could skip right past.
I’m trying to say this in a way that doesn’t exude toxic positivity. If this moment is especially brutal for you, it’s fine and actually healthy to have all those feelings.
But I also find myself needing the reminder that this too is life. I don’t want to spend my time so focused on some post-pandemic, less tumultuous future, that I look up and see that I’ve practically shut off for another year of my marriage, a year in my kid’s life, even my dog’s life, that I won’t get back.
Things are rough, but there’s still some joy I don’t want to miss out on. This is life right now.
