I don’t know about you, but this social isolation thing is hard. As an extrovert, I’m missing my friends. As an Italian mama, I’m missing my kids. My extended family. A classroom full of students. My gym workout. The freedom to just move about the world. I know you’re missing it too.
We are not meant to live in isolation. What makes us healthy and whole is the connections we form with one another. With our families. Our friends. Our colleagues and our community… The thing we need the most to feel healthy has become harder to get.
After more than 30 years in the field of social work, I know one thing to be true. We do not need to be victims to our situation. We have choices to make, each and every day about how we want to live our lives. How we choose to show up for ourselves and each other. That’s why I’m launching my First Aid for Social Isolation, daily offerings to make this time a little easier. If you find them useful, feel free to share.
Practice #1 – Acknowledge What Is True
Things are rarely black and white. We feel grateful and disappointed. Safe and lonely. Hopeful and afraid. We get into trouble when we engage in black and white thinking. Honor your feelings. Own them. Give yourself permission to say them out loud. Both are true. Both are valid. Both can exist at the same time. Resist the temptation to deny the hard ones.
Try this: Check in with yourself each day. Write down two (or more) feelings you are feeling and a sentence about what those feelings are about. Example: I am grateful for having a safe place to stay during this time and I am frustrated that I can’t spend Easter with my friends. Notice how it feels to hold both feelings. Hold them gently and with compassion. You don’t have to choose. Both things are true.
I’d love to make this a collaborative effort. Want to participate? Have a question or topic to suggest? Something to share? Email me: suzanne@suzannemaggio.com.
image from here.