"They said they were grateful for how annoying I am, and that felt really true." Okay, maybe this is why we like each other. Fellow annoying folk unite! 🫶🫶
Snippets like these bring life to others. Thank you. I love thinking about how life is made up of a string of times like these. Writing about them is like taking each story, making it into a banner, and then attaching each banner to a string that lets us hang them all up on the wall behind us on important celebrations when we celebrate the life we’ve been given.
The only way I know how to manage the pain is being in the moment. Finding gratitude in the smallest of things. Being in touch with the hope that is at times, so elusive.
Thank you, Jeannine, for being a shining light in the darkness. 💛💫
Thank you, Jeannine! I love the Pema Chödrön quote, it has gotten me through some very difficult times. Thank you for giving us this beautiful triptych: reflections filled with real life, real love and real hope.
This: "Like, how pushy and unrelenting I am about honest and clear communication and life being short and striving and being our best selves, doing our best things, building our best lives, even when we're failing all the time . . . "
Well, that's a very lovely thing for me to hear in a hard time where we're all wondering in some way whether what we do even matters. Thank you, Melissa!
Thank you, Monika. These really are just snippets that I basically "live journaled" on Facebook back then. I only cleaned them up a little, so they're what they are, and no more. But I felt maybe they convey something about the last time we weathered severe darkness.
"They said they were grateful for how annoying I am, and that felt really true." This line is everything... and just want to mention WITD continues to save hearts and minds, it's saving mine, I've been doing the exercises, and last week I pitched something that came from an exercise, will keep you posted!
Ha I liked that line (and that truth) best too. It is my best quality and it's what makes me a great teacher but it can also, admittedly, be annoying. I am well aware of this. And, good luck with the pitch!! Please do keep us posted and if it does not fly, keep going--it is tough out there!
This is beautiful. I appreciate you sharing how complex and messy life was for you then, and how it feels now. Life can be terrifying. I had the pleasure of spending 2020 in and out of hospitals. I saw first hand how deadly COVID-19 was then.
I remember one incident that's stuck with me. Id been admitted for a surgery and spent a few weeks in recovery. It was obvious how challenging it was with quarantine zones, protective gear, staffing shortages, etc. For a few days I had the same CNA, a lovely man in his mid 20s, who always tried his best to be cheerful for the patients.
Id always chat him up and I noticed that something was bothering him. So, I asked him what was wrong. We had enough rapport that he admitted he was exhausted. I pushed a bit sensing it was more than that. I remember saying something like "c'mon man, you can tell me. I'm worried about you." Whatever it was, it worked. He opened up. What he told me made me cry.
He started to tell me how many deaths there had been. About how he had been tasked the last few days with moving bodies to the various freezers. Various because the morgue and every normal storage unit was full. They'd had to take freezers from the kitchen and repurpose them because there were so many dead. He'd spent all week immersed in bodies. It was breaking him. He started to sob as he shared. After helping me, he had more bodies to go move. He thanked me for caring and left after gathering himself.
Trauma comes in many forms. I don't think we've moved past 2020. The wounds linger in unseen ways. Climate change is rushing towards us faster and faster. Extremist politics are taking root the world over. War is igniting globally. Safety is a rare commodity, it seems. In this maelstrom of seeming chaos, community is everything. That's what I've learned. Thank you for letting us share and commune together.
Wow. Yes —what the people have gone through— hellish. So glad he could talk to you. I just dread what we’re in for but l appreciate everyone’s comments and the lovely post.
Oh my yes, the moral injury of healthcare workers -- it has not healed. And our collective injuries have not healed either. All you say is true, and community really is everything. I am so glad we're here.
What a beautiful insight about the body. We are so resilient… life, all of us. Thank you for sharing these insights. They’re helpful, and this writing is also helping me generate ideas to write about when everything is lurching around in my head like a pot of soup on a sailboat on a stormy sea…. Haha.
"They said they were grateful for how annoying I am, and that felt really true." Okay, maybe this is why we like each other. Fellow annoying folk unite! 🫶🫶
Gah, our bodies are pretty amazing, eh.
Thank you for sharing your light, Jeannine.
Snippets like these bring life to others. Thank you. I love thinking about how life is made up of a string of times like these. Writing about them is like taking each story, making it into a banner, and then attaching each banner to a string that lets us hang them all up on the wall behind us on important celebrations when we celebrate the life we’ve been given.
My soul aches for the world.
The only way I know how to manage the pain is being in the moment. Finding gratitude in the smallest of things. Being in touch with the hope that is at times, so elusive.
Thank you, Jeannine, for being a shining light in the darkness. 💛💫
Thank you for sharing your light. I feel it.
Thank you, Jeannine! I love the Pema Chödrön quote, it has gotten me through some very difficult times. Thank you for giving us this beautiful triptych: reflections filled with real life, real love and real hope.
This: "Like, how pushy and unrelenting I am about honest and clear communication and life being short and striving and being our best selves, doing our best things, building our best lives, even when we're failing all the time . . . "
Thanks, Melissa. I feel seen ❤️
That's how you make us feel out here! It's why, after all the searching for and considering other online writing "homes," I finally subscribed. xo
Well, that's a very lovely thing for me to hear in a hard time where we're all wondering in some way whether what we do even matters. Thank you, Melissa!
Thank you for such sharing Jeannine. It gives such connection and everyday hope in ....ourselves and each other.
Thank you, Cathie, for being a member of this community that became such a raft four years ago. I am very, very grateful.
The ending. Jeannine, this is so beautiful. Thank you ♥️
Thank you, Monika. These really are just snippets that I basically "live journaled" on Facebook back then. I only cleaned them up a little, so they're what they are, and no more. But I felt maybe they convey something about the last time we weathered severe darkness.
I love the snippets. They convey everything. Your voice is extra tender here, and I need tenderness right now. Love you ♥️
The feeling is 100,000% mutual ♥️
Love you too. Really grateful to know you.
"They said they were grateful for how annoying I am, and that felt really true." This line is everything... and just want to mention WITD continues to save hearts and minds, it's saving mine, I've been doing the exercises, and last week I pitched something that came from an exercise, will keep you posted!
Ha I liked that line (and that truth) best too. It is my best quality and it's what makes me a great teacher but it can also, admittedly, be annoying. I am well aware of this. And, good luck with the pitch!! Please do keep us posted and if it does not fly, keep going--it is tough out there!
Yes. We didn’t get this far to just perish. And yes to no pep talks. Ugh. 🫶
Yep. Love you.
This is beautiful. I appreciate you sharing how complex and messy life was for you then, and how it feels now. Life can be terrifying. I had the pleasure of spending 2020 in and out of hospitals. I saw first hand how deadly COVID-19 was then.
I remember one incident that's stuck with me. Id been admitted for a surgery and spent a few weeks in recovery. It was obvious how challenging it was with quarantine zones, protective gear, staffing shortages, etc. For a few days I had the same CNA, a lovely man in his mid 20s, who always tried his best to be cheerful for the patients.
Id always chat him up and I noticed that something was bothering him. So, I asked him what was wrong. We had enough rapport that he admitted he was exhausted. I pushed a bit sensing it was more than that. I remember saying something like "c'mon man, you can tell me. I'm worried about you." Whatever it was, it worked. He opened up. What he told me made me cry.
He started to tell me how many deaths there had been. About how he had been tasked the last few days with moving bodies to the various freezers. Various because the morgue and every normal storage unit was full. They'd had to take freezers from the kitchen and repurpose them because there were so many dead. He'd spent all week immersed in bodies. It was breaking him. He started to sob as he shared. After helping me, he had more bodies to go move. He thanked me for caring and left after gathering himself.
Trauma comes in many forms. I don't think we've moved past 2020. The wounds linger in unseen ways. Climate change is rushing towards us faster and faster. Extremist politics are taking root the world over. War is igniting globally. Safety is a rare commodity, it seems. In this maelstrom of seeming chaos, community is everything. That's what I've learned. Thank you for letting us share and commune together.
Wow. Yes —what the people have gone through— hellish. So glad he could talk to you. I just dread what we’re in for but l appreciate everyone’s comments and the lovely post.
Oh my yes, the moral injury of healthcare workers -- it has not healed. And our collective injuries have not healed either. All you say is true, and community really is everything. I am so glad we're here.
I am too! There is something so healing about sharing our internal worlds with another person.
What a beautiful insight about the body. We are so resilient… life, all of us. Thank you for sharing these insights. They’re helpful, and this writing is also helping me generate ideas to write about when everything is lurching around in my head like a pot of soup on a sailboat on a stormy sea…. Haha.
Thank you, Jeannine. I really need this- all of it—pictures, gorgeous words, the space you create for us as we are, and the way you show up. ❤️
Me too ♥️
Xo
Thank you, friend. xo
Xo
Beautiful moments of hope and light, thank you.
Thanks, Donna ❤️