April 4th - The Weekend!

Today I'm thinking about the value of weekends. We are home either way, weekend or weekday, so does it matter?  No trips to school. No trips to work. No Wednesday Karate or Tuesday pottery.  For me the decision to be in a different mental state changed everything. Today it felt almost like we were home by choice.  Our time was our own.

Today started with the 5:30 am Spartan call. We heard :90 second updates from China, Canada, Spain, South America; updates from military leaders, financial experts, and always a few motivational thoughts. This morning  I gave a quick summary of our Podcast session with the extreme skier Kristen Ulmer who wrote  "The Art of Fear." (see April 3rd). Still but then the day was my own. 

The kids did not have virtual school.  The level of stress they are carrying all week sudennly became clear in its absence.

I took a long walk in the woods behind our house and didn't think about needing to be back for anything. I talked with with family as I walked and only returned home because the battery died.

We talked about the SBA emergency loan program and how complicated it is. We talked about this idea that Jon Levy the behavioral scientist talked about on the podcast: that many of the things that are correlated to longevity are also correlated to happiness. Two of those are 1. your close social network (best friends & family) and 2. your loose social network.  It's that loose social network that we're all missing now.  It leaves a sort of constant dull ache, but with the long calls and the walk in the woods it finally dissipated.

A long walk in the woods with Trooper

Third on that list is exercise. That's one thing we can control.  So we run every day.

Creativity wasn't on the list, but maybe it should be. 

​Mom challenged all the kids and grandkids to create something - a poem or a drawing - and be ready for a ZOOM show and tell on Sunday evening.I took an hour and sat outside in the sun trying to convey the light hitting two birch trees. No phone. No walls. No computer.  It was great medicine.

Exercise is one thing we can control - so we run every day.

On  ZOOM an exceptional example of virtual community with our guest Jeff Gomez.  The topic: transitioning from the "Hero's Journey" to the "Collective Journey" story model, and how that is especially relevant right now.  As our friend Jesse Levin, Tactivate, pointed out - "don't wait for permission to solve problems and help." Jeff Gomez said:

In this tidal wave of chaos, disquiet and fear we have an opportunity to re-examine the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. That we're not up to this.  That we cynical.   That we're optimists exhausted by pushing the boulder of negativity up the mountain. What if there is no boulder and no mountain? 

Don't wait for the hero. The hero isn't coming. We are the hero and now is the time to change the story. 
 We all as a collective need to save ourselves.