This isn’t about Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanza or Boxing Day. It’s about something more lasting that that: cold and flu season.

Borrowing from the season however, I’ll just begin:

Tis the season to be

• barfy — my youngest has vomited twice in the last 24 hours.
• sneezy — I think i have another head cold.
• exhausted — the sun sets so early now I want to nap at noon.
• moody — bugger off man with the Salvation Army bell and bucket! (But I sincerely and cheerfully gave him a $20 anyway yesterday…)

Two of my oldest sons have strep.

Who knows what my youngest has. I DON’T CARE. Just make it go away.

But there’s something else at play these days and it’s got nothing to do with Kleenex or frequent hand-washing: it’s our emotional health when we think we have to do it all, all the time, all the days.

Here’s the news: we don’t. I encountered a Facebook friend’s status reporting utter exhaustion. To this person I wrote privately, but I think we all need to hear it now…

It sounds glib, but i’ll say it anyway: HYDRATE. take mini breathing breaks. allow yourself to let some shit go too. we can’t do it all. we aren’t meant to — look: if humanity was supposed to get it right it would’ve gotten it right with the first humans and it would’ve ended there. we haven’t. in fact we’ve epically screwed it up; but that doesn’t mean we should break ourselves down trying to fix all the stuff and unstupid the stupid. when we overwork and get down, we add ourselves to the negative vibration, no matter how hard we try to be positive. we are a suck hole of energy… so be good to yourself. i hope you are feeling better. i love you. (didn’t meant to sound preachy, i just wanted to be efficient.) xoxo

So let some shit go. Let 90% of what’s on your mind go. You can’t change the world today. Clearly we’re going to continue to jack up things until the end of humanity, which these days is pretty inhumane. So don’t get too down on it. As Tara Brach said, you can’t “Bad! Bad! Bad!” or hate something into transformation.

Turn off the TV.

Shut down your computer (once you’re finished with this post).

Put down the phone.

Make yourself some tea.

Fetch a blanket.

Grab a book.

Turn on some music without words.

If you need to be somewhere in an hour or so, set an alarm to wake you.

Read and fall the heck asleep.

 

When you rise, don’t freak out when everything is where you left it.

It’s ok. It’s all going to be ok. Really.

Control is an illusion.

Thank you.