You can probably imagine the "conversation" that follows - thousands of people completely agreeing and thousands feeling offended because they actually do have a lot of time on their hands because they have lost their job, don't have kids, etcetera, etcetera. All sides are completely valid, but I tend to get worked up just reading this sort of thing because I begin to take it all personally [even though I didn't write it!!]
Thankfully I follow Tiffany Roe, a therapist in Utah, who reminds me that people's reactions are not personal. Today she wrote, "WOW social media is a baptism by fire sometimes y'all....How is it possible that in communication, one instance can trigger such vast responses (reactions) in people? Because we each have a unique lens that creates our world. We are not responsible for other people's feelings. Nor can we control them."
I also started following David Brooks and Andy Crouch on Twitter after watching a great panel discussion by The Veritas Forum last week. It's long, but worth it if you're in the mood for attempting to pull meaning out of this crazy time. But the reason I bring up David Brooks here is that I read an opinion piece he wrote about finding meaning in the pandemic. I cringed as I read many of the comments, again, partly because I know how personally I would take comments written about something that I wrote. I hope that anyone with a massive social media following has thicker skin than me or a good therapist.
To try and stay informed and emotionally healthy, I'm trying to limit my time on social media and instead listen to two podcasts each day - Up First by NPR and The Daily by the NYTimes. Since I can't walk with friends, these podcasts have become a nice companion.
The kids are thriving because they love staying home, planned activities, and extra iPad time. We're SUPER thankful that for the most part, they play well together. I'm thankful that Nate likes to cook and that he shares a belief that the kids MUST get outside at least once each day. Two or three times is even better.
Yesterday we biked to a frisbee golf course where the baskets hadn't been reinstalled yet, but we still had fun. Today we biked to Olbrich Park and Nate taught us all how to fly stunt kites.
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| Love this shot |
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| They all got pretty good at keeping the kite up in the air |
Oh, and one more thing before I let you go. Back in November, I bought some cute card-making/scrapbooking supplies that I was planning to give the girls for Christmas. I ended up saving them and pulled them out for "art" class the other day. This sheet of stickers was obviously from back in the day when we all longed for the days when we could choose to stay home and bake cookies or read a book!
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| Yeah, let's stay home! |
Thank you, Alicia. I so appreciate your journal of your life and, in this case, your excellent references for listening, reading, and following. Good to hear you and yours are doing well. We are, too, so far, and I pray we and the world come through this time with as little sickness and death as possible, and even come out on the other side more loving and kind toward each other. Bless you.
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