Something to remember when everything feels too much
You’re tired, I know. Or, more precisely perhaps, weary. Weary of war. Weary of wrongdoing. Weary of bullying and brash billionaires.
The times feel terrible, and they are. Truly.
And yet, I think the times have always probably felt terrible.
Sometimes I imagine having lived hundreds of years ago. With that Black Death virus clamoring over thresholds and choking children. With doctors in dark masks sweeping through houses to pick up bodies. The candles dissolving into pools of wax worries as I hold vigil, hoping my loved ones and I make it through another night.
To not give up, I think, is to hold on to something true.
The terrible may be true…And, is there not something else?
Is there a flicker of connection as you pass a coin and take the warm bread? Is there a soft caress of a cat slipping round your ankles in effortless welcome?
Is there, by chance, the heartbeat of a tree? The one outside your window, whose leaves are unfurling even now—even when every other living being seems to tremble?
This tree, its rings intertwined as you both thicken with age, this tree says yes to fear. And, it says yes to the sun's rays—the ones that bathe it golden, the ones that give it life.
What will you say yes to this week?
After Ada Limon’s “Instructions on Not Giving Up.”