Day 15: You can do hard things.
Hi! It’s Day 15.
Brooklyn P. sent the photo above, describing it as “a short note of encouragement I hung above my new work from home space”:
I'm a student who is also worked adjacent to the COVID response and this has been my mantra. I can do hard things! Sometimes it's just for ten minutes and sometimes it's for hours on end. I'm learning to be ok with the fluid nature of this work.
A small note about outside-- i'm in Minnesota where spring is just starting. However, the creeping charlie in my yard is already growing strong and green. I hate the damn weed for taking over my yard but I won't get rid of it because it serves as some of the first food of the year for bees and other pollinators. I think if I look hard enough there is a metaphor in there about grit or finding joy in the unexpected hardiness we are discovering in ourselves during this season of unprecedented difficulty. Or maybe i'm just trying to find it in me to not hate creeping charlie as much as I do.
Carla C. wrote in:
I work at a pretty awesome company that is relatively close-knit in the best of times, so we're going the extra mile to support each other now. One of my co-workers started a daily meditation "meeting" on our second day of quarantine, working through the Basics level on Headspace. I was a little hesitant at first because who wants to meditate with co-workers? But it's very quickly become my favorite time of day. There are about 11 of us and we all have a little hi-how-is-everyone check-in first, then mute and turn off cameras (except for the host) and meditate for 15 minutes. It is quite literally keeping me sane.
And a closing note from Scott B. in Florida:
For over two years, I served as a suicide prevention and crisis intervention counselor on a lifeline for LGBTQ+ young people. We took calls from all over the country, from all ages, from all walks of life. Everyone's crisis is different, but one message we shared with many callers has come back to me repeatedly over the past few weeks: you are not alone.
You can do hard things.
You are not alone.
I hope you have a good weekend, and I’ll see you on Monday, otherwise known as Day 12. 🌸