Give Yourself Some Grace (And Others, Too, While You're At It).

I know everybody’s like, “Be creative. Organize your pantry. Be productive. Do something during the shutdown." There are a plethora of posts about how to stock your pantry for a quarantine, how to home school your kids (when you weren't already a home school parent), how to clean out space, and what not. These resources are great, but I’m over here like, “I just want to relax. I don't need the extra pressure. I’ll cook with what I’ve got and what I can find at the stores. I’ll let the organizing go. I'll run slower (though I'm still keeping up with training distances while I can). I'll eat popcorn for dinner. I'll veg on the couch. I’ll welcome the slow down and change of pace."
If the how-to posts coming out like mad are helpful to you, great! Use those resources. But if like me, they create extra expectations and extra pressure, let them go. No use shaming yourself for just being right now, friends.

Let's give ourselves (and others) some grace right now. The world’s a scary place, so might as well be kind. Now might not be a time for new goals, or even keeping up with old ones (or maybe those goals are vital, sobriety or mental health recovery, for instance). Maybe now is a time to just live and let live. To be okay with extra messes from the kids in the living room. To let the closet organizing project go. To make an extra box of mac and cheese. To consume less fruits and vegetables. To sleep more and workout less . To watch some poor quality, not so great TV. To be with loved ones with no agenda. We as a nation need a slow-down. And painful as this situation is, maybe this is our opportunity. Let’s not waste it.

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Meanwhile, let’s pray for and ask how we can support our medical and healthcare professionals. They need an extra measure of grace right now. They aren't getting this slow-down. They’re in a fight for their lives and the lives of our fellow man and have probably never had such stressful times. And when this has abated, or is all over, let’s figure out how to keep supporting them and help them have a break, because they’re going to need it!