Rise & Shine
5 resolutions for the post-election reality
I don't know about you, but since the US election, I’ve been all over the map. Angry, disappointed, curious, discouraged, defiant – but I’m landing on resolved. (Those of you who feel differently, I hope you'll read on anyway. You may still find something useful.)
These, then, are my 5 post-2024-election resolutions.
We’re It. Remember being It, from tag? That’s us. No matter who’s in charge, I am the one I need. I can do what has to be done, I can gather with others and together we can find ways to take care of each other and the world we love. This is good news. We don’t have to wait.
Build Stamina. Lately I've been thinking about the Biblical character Moses, plodding through the desert for 40 years. One day toward the end – year 39 and a half, let’s say – God takes him up on a mountain top and points to the promised land. It’s so tantalizingly close. Moses can finally see what he’s only imagined until then. But then God pulls the rug out. This is as close as you get, bucko. What I take from the story is this: Bending the arc of history toward justice is a long walk. There is no guarantee I will see any fruit from my labor, and you'll still be walking after my short span of time has evaporated. That is not a reason not to do it.
Share Time, Treasure, Talent. We all have gifts. What can we give right now? Volunteering, donating, offering our services are options to explore. And don’t discount small gestures. They add up fast. So make a casserole and take it to your neighbor just back from the hospital. Offer to watch someone’s kids. Give away unworn clothes – your cast off coat will warm someone when it's cold outside.
Protect Your Magic. When I was growing up, my mother refused to let us kids see Disney movies. She didn’t want our imaginations colonized, she said. Now I feel the same way about ingesting input. We live in a noisy, pushy world – the attention economy. And much of that input is foolish and toxic. If my attention is the prize, then I will be pristine about what I allow in. That doesn’t mean I’m uninformed, but I treat my consciousness as sacred ground it is.
Love, Love, Love. The Beatles had it right. Love is the light that surrounds us, the life that rises in us, and the lifting wind we need to carry us through. So I’m doubling down on loving the cats that wander in and out of my house all day long. My husband, my family and friends – loving them as hard as I can right now too. The writers I am so honored to work with, and all of you who read
Certain Age, get in here for a group hug. I love what we’re creating together, and I love you.
Seriously. I believe with every fiber of my soul that love is greater than hate, greater than greed, greater than all efforts to diminish and divide us. Love really is stronger than death. So if we trust it, the way we would trust a floor that we put all our weight on, knowing it will hold, if we trust it like that, love will show us the exact thing we need to do this exact moment, today, to bring into being the world we envision.
We are a force and our power is immense.
But the time is now, and we’re It.
xo Jean