We are currently in the middle of a viral pandemic that is shedding light on a centuries old racial pandemic and I was asked to write a blog about all the ways people can revitalize and refresh one’s well-being in the month of June. I just had to laugh. I am NOT the person you want writing this sort of blog right now. I am mostly in a state of overwhelm and occasional paralysis. Sure, on paper I look like the kind of person who could whip up a list of 5 things that are gonna help you gain a new lease on life, but if 2020 has taught me anything it is that looks can be deceiving.
You see, I am too human to actually be the acupuncturist some of y’all are looking for. My diet these days is questionable at best, I have enjoyed a lot more wine during quarantine, and I am surely too afraid of dying to deny the amazing gifts Western medicine has to offer. See. Not what you expected, right? I am just trying to survive and sometimes that looks like delicious, stinky cheese and a glass of wine at 4pm on a Tuesday (you thought I was going to say meditating in the woods, right?).
Between COVID-19 and the country’s long overdue realization of the racist brutality our Black community members go through everyday, we are all uncomfortable. The reasons for our individual discomforts range drastically (check your privilege, folx), but the truth is none of us feel good right now. Both of these pandemics have provided a space for us to face our demons and, boy, are we wrestling.
I am spending most of my days focused on not losing it and being a better human than I was the day before. For many people, that alone can be revitalizing and refreshing. So. If I were to give advice on how to re-June-venate yourself right now it would be this.
*Listen to Black people.
*Listen to People of Color (POC).
*Listen to Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC).
*Listen to LGBTQIA+ people.
*Listen to Disabled people.
*Listen to Doctors.
*Listen to an Epidemiologist.
*Read.
*Sit.
*Educate yourself.
*Don’t produce anything.
*Ignore your to-do list.
*Move your body.
*Sleep.
*Eat.
*Make a gratitude list.
*Physically distance but DO NOT socially distance.
*Connect with friends.
*Make art. Even the crappy kind.
*Reframe the way you think of your worth.
*Eat lots of cheese (unless you are lactose intolerant in which case don’t eat any cheese).
*Don’t worry about your kids’ education, worry about their emotional state.
*Donate money.
*Donate time.
*Donate.
*Stop trying to get things back to how they were and start thinking about how things can be.
*Be a good citizen.
*Wear a mask.
If you are lucky enough to be left breathing after these pandemics, use that gift wisely. Change is possible. Healing is possible. Be the change that heals us all.
InsideOut Body Therapies