kindness, hope, and assets
Today I caught myself thinking about how kind and generous everyone seems to be given the chaos happening around us. We’ve all had virtual everything like coffee, happy hour, and meetings to stay connected with coworkers. We are getting creative with our online rendezvous. My sister who works in administration for a large hospital held a virtual team stretch break where they rolled out that fun game from elementary gym class “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes!” My husband hosts virtual happy hour late Friday afternoon with his dedicated and hard working team so they can connect, laugh, and be light for a few minutes.
Celebrities are playing online concerts for us, and others showing us what they are doing while staying home like the abstract faces artwork from Anthony Hopkins.
Danny DeVito and Robert De Niro asked us to do our part and social distance with De Niro reminding us he’s watching us. Madonna gave her “the virus is a great equalizer” message from a bathtub with strategically placed flower petals, and Sir Elton John assembled a few pals for a live stream concert. Neil Diamond re-wrote his 1969 hit Sweet Caroline singing “hands, washing hands, reaching out, don’t touch me, I won’t touch you.”
The messages are clear: we are in this together, apart. I think New York Governor Cuomo said it best with “socially distanced, spiritually connected.” It’s both bad and good at the same time. We are all in this together for sure, some on the real front lines of it, whether making new policy, treating the sick, building temporary hospitals, cleaning our hospitals and public spaces, driving trucks with supplies around the nation, or ringing up our groceries. Others are working crazy hours to develop ready tests, eventual treatments, and the real goal of having an immunization.
Many of us are in our homes, not going out except to make our way to the supermarket for staples. I have seen so much empathy, and compassion, and general kindness. In some ways it’s like the movie “Groundhog Day” only this movie is a version of the general charity we typically experience only at Christmas.
It is only a matter of time, though, when we will grow very tired of the isolation, limited freedom to move about, and the inability to find toilet paper and Lysol in the store on a regular basis. We are all going to need to develop whatever tools, tips, or tricks to help us when we start to experience “empathy fatigue” and just want life to return to normal.
Today I made a list I call my Personal Asset List which is simply all the things I can do during the next month to keep me engaged, focused, mentally stimulated, entertained, and spiritually connected. It’s a list of books I plan to read, training (online) I am going to do, music I want to learn to play, what I will paint, subjects I will write about, and detailed planning for a container vegetable garden for the deck.
What are your personal assets? I will be challenging myself to keep my Asset List handy and return to it when I feel my empathy being tested, and my spirits lagging. Join me?
Socially isolated, spiritually connected, and armed with our Personal Asset Lists. We have the tools. We CAN do this.
