These are strange times, friends.
For you, for me, for everyone—even for those of us who are home all the time anyway. (As a full-time freelancer, these are my tips for suddenly being cooped up inside.) It just feels different. Heavier. Somber.
I see you, trying to do your best, despite the fears and emotions and confusion: Skyping with friends, coloring, walking The Dog, staying home. And that is good, holy work.
But remember that your best looks different right now.
It’s easy to hold your current self to the standards of the old, Well, I was able to lift this much last week or, I crossed more things off of my to-do list yesterday.
But you start to feel like a fucking failure when you don’t consider that, last week, you slept in every day. (And this week, you stayed up late caring for a sick friend.) You never once stop and congratulate yourself, Hey! I went to the gym even though I was tired. I didn’t break any records, but I didn’t quit; I did what I could.
Your “best” is a constantly evolving, moving target. You don’t set the bar once and spend the rest of your life trying to jump up and grab hold.
Instead, you carry the bar with you, and set it over and over again, every day.
So, please, remember that the next time you chastise yourself for not doing enough in the middle of a fucking pandemic.
Scale back when you need to, take breaks, take naps, drink way more water. Know where you’re at, and know that, sometimes, spending all of Sunday coloring the same picture over until you get it just right can be your best effort. That’s OK.
These are strange times, friends. Let’s not hold ourselves to the standard of yesterday.
Mary's One Hundred 