keep living!

&& please for the love of everything, VOTE!

West Indian Day Parade, Brooklyn, New York. 1947.

Zoom fatigue. Information overload. Despair. Fear. Exhaustion. Sweat. Nausea. Grief.

If you’re feeling any of these things, I want you to know I am right there with you. I didn’t have time to finish this week’s post, and instead of beating myself up over it, I am tryyyyying to embrace my humanity. My imperfections. My need for rest and a reset.

I hope you can rest and reset this weekend, too. I hope that wherever you are, you give yourself a minute, an hour, a day, to just be. To not try to fight your body’s urges. Just be.

And if you can’t give yourself the time and space to rest, I hope you can forgive yourself for this. Try not to let your work/relationships/stress/the world overwhelm you so much that you forget to breathe. Breathe in love. Breathe out fear. Breathe in love. Breathe out fear.

I hope that you dance this weekend. Or move your body in some capacity, if that feels okay. I hope you do something outside. Or call a friend you haven’t spoken with in a while.

I hope you eat ice cream this weekend. Or, if like me, you’re finally accepting you are lactose intolerant, I hope you treat yourself to some sorbet. With chocolate chips.

I hope you allow yourself to feel angry this weekend. I hope you don’t try to push the anger down, minimize it, or make it feel worthless. Your anger is important. It is trying to tell you something. I hope you listen.

I hope you let yourself cry this weekend, if you need to. I hope you let the tears flow, in the shower, on the floor of your bedroom, in the middle of the street. I hope you release that tension through tears, if it feels okay.

I hope you feel hopeful this weekend. To daydream, to fantasize about your future travel plans, ideas, projects, connections you hope to make when the time is right.

I hope you keep locating yourself this weekend. In every space you occupy, I hope you take the time to assess your relationship to the environment, the people, and the systems of power.

I hope you learn something new this weekend. About yourself. About a family member. About a stranger.

I hope you keep living, breathing, flourishing, moving, reexamining, renewing, rewinding, hoping, laughing, being.

We’ve got this.

I love you,

Jesse