Last week I was musing about darkness. This seems to have struck a chord with many of you, and thank you for comments and feedback that encourage me to keep musing. We are walking tentatively through the darkness together, somehow or other.
Since last week, the news seems to have become even more difficult and darker. And I have heard several stories of individuals for whom life is becoming almost intolerable. Stories that have reduced me to tears of sadness and frustration at the ghastly lot some people have to deal with.
Poverty, hardship, loss, stress.
Folk struggling to put one foot in front of the other each day.
Ho hum, not a very cheery way to start this week.
Sorry.
It may be that your own situation is not quite as dire as that of some that you know or hear about. In this house, there is food on the table each day, which is not the case throughout our city, or our world.
However, in our own ways and our own circumstances, I think all of us would generally agree that this is getting harder.
My own simple approach is helping up to a point.
I am choosing each day to focus only on the next thing I have to do.
Not thinking beyond the end of the day often, the week at the outset.
Losing myself in a good book, film, or creative pursuit.
Limiting news and social media. Lovely radio instead.
Exercise, appreciating beauty around me
Keeping my mind very carefully curated and boundaried.
A friend recently shared with me the Podcast The Next Right Thing by Emily P Freeman. I love this, it is right up my street – as my friend knew it would be.
Calming, reassuring, short and very practical – and at the same time I feel my soul expand a little as I listen to someone who so often articulates just how I am feeling.
One episode I listened to recently was about learning to walk in the dark. You can listen to that one, Episode 55, here.
Emily’s tips for walking tentatively through the darkness:
Go slow.
Trust what you know.
Take it one step at a time.
For me, this seems a road map through these dark days that is powerful in it’s simplicity.
I am weary of all this…pandemic, restrictions, anxiety, uncertainty….
…and find my mental capacity for multiple decision making is reduced. So I focus on one thing at a time, and let go of my tendency to try and do several things at once or set over ambitious targets for my days.
I am constantly having to come back to what I know to be true in our own lives, and what I am grateful for. This helps keep anxiety and panic at bay.
And doing the next right thing…well, this speaks for itself. Just take a step that gets you into the next 10-15 minutes.
My wonderful coach trainer Lynne shared this profound drawing by Charlie Mackesy on Facebook recently:
I love the perspective that this simple phrase brings.
Life feels harder at present for many, as we try and walk our way tentatively through the darkness.
But what an encouragement to ourselves and each other to remember that each step through the dark is a bigger victory.
What does that mean to you this week?
Who can you encourage as they take steps through their own darkness?