Unicorns🦄 and Hurricanes🌪️
Unicorns, Rainbows, and Mermaids 🦄 🌈 🧜♀️
That's the camp my daughter is at this week. It's full of things she loves. Color. Glitter. Sparkle. Gemstones. Creativity. Imagination. And, perhaps most important, a kind teacher.
Every day this week she's come home with new creations.
And if you're wishing that was what your week was like...I'm right there with you! 😂🤣😂
Yet, multiple nights this week she's also woken with bad dreams related to real-world events and conversations.
I can't help but wonder if you and I can relate to this more closely than we would care to admit.
On the one hand...
What's your equivalent of unicorns, rainbows, and mermaids? (E.g., Where do you experience joy, wonder, and delight?)
Who are the kind people that lift you up and bring it all together?
And, on the flip side...
What's waking (or keeping) you up at night - metaphorically or literally? (E.g., What's contributing to your worry, fatigue, and despair?)
When and how do these concerns show up and take their toll on you?
Perhaps at the core of it all is another question...
How do you hold - and handle - both in your day-to-day?
For my daughter, she can quickly shift in her emotional expression. What includes tears and fears in one moment can become giggles and silliness in another.
Both are real. Both are valid. And neither negates the other.
As a child, she still demonstrates the emotional buoyancy that eludes and confounds many adults.
(BTW, if that feels true for you, it's not your fault and there's nothing wrong with you. Our history, society, and survival needs have often taught us that this type of emotional range is either impossible, unhealthy, or unwelcome, so it takes a bit of intention to dismantle those beliefs and habits.)
I don't know about you, but as I follow the events and effects of hurricanes, politics, and wars, I believe even more strongly that emotional buoyancy is an essential tool for these current times.
Hurricanes, politics, and wars are quite the contrast to unicorns, rainbows, and mermaids, huh? 🤔 😉
Often I talk with people who feel like they're doing something wrong if they feel the intensity of the pain, fear, and sadness of suffering, and likewise feel hesitant to welcome in the heightened emotions of love, hope, and joy.
Yet both are real. Both are valid. Both can fully and completely coexist.
And, truly, both have value.
I think the wise words of Michelle Obama can offer us some guidance for the importance of holding space for both...
You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.
How do you integrate the highs and the lows, the energy and the depletion, the hope and the anxiety?
What are your unicorns, rainbows, and mermaids? What helps you to hold onto your courage and hope? 🌈 💪
How do you continue to welcome these into your daily life even as you recognize the enormity of the world's problems and the suffering it creates?
I fully agree with Michelle Obama.
You are important.
Your "courage can be contagious."
Your "hope can take on a life of its own."
You matter. You make a difference. I'm so thankful you're here.
