After keeping yourself together all week, being strong for your family, your peers, your clients, neighbors and country, Today might be a day when the stress comes crashing down. That’s ok. It’s healthy. You need to let it out and let it go. You need to have a time to be feel worry and disbelief and shock and sadness. That’s courage: to acknowledge and ask for help and reason and reaffirm - rediscovering your strength to go on.

And there are so many ways to do that:

• Take a walk with someone and just say things out loud, and listen, and not try to solve

• Pick up a pen and write your thoughts down; then read them over, crumpled it up and throw it away

• Call someone and ask them for a few minutes to listen, then share at least one “non-crisis-related” thought with each other

• Talk to yourself, your higher power or just say to the Universe, “Hey, I gotta get this off my mind...” and when you’re done say to yourself, “I’m done for now.” You can always listen for a response later.

In the meantime, turn off your phone and feeds and streams and most of all any stress-induced posts. This isn’t really the best time to talk politics or play scientist or hurl comments or post zingers. It’s not a moment to score points or be right or tell others you told them so. Not because you’re not mad or sad nor because you’re not smart: Nor is it about your reputation or business or stature in the community.

It’s really just because it won’t help You.

It’s not what you need, and it won’t lower your stress and it won’t give you strength. You can’t change the politics today: you can’t solve the science or medicine; You can’t fix those who aren’t complying with the rules or who are flinging conspiracies around the webs. You won’t convince the journalists to be better or the trolls to stay home: Not one of the best one-liners will make you feel any better.

I could be wrong; and this is just what I’m doing for myself. Sharing it is my way of “writing” through my own built-up stress this week. So if you’ve read this far I should also say “Thank you” and pardon me for not asking permission beforehand.

Yet I truly hope you’ll take the rest of the afternoon off. Give yourself permission to do the hardest part of getting through this moment in history: Take care.

Take care of yourself.
Take care of others.
Take care not to take it out of control.

#alwaysinspiring