Call your grandparents

Greetings from home:

It's hard to be articulate right now but I wanted to reach out.  It is normal to be scared and even paralyzed. But in the midst of so much uncertainty, we can ground ourselves by connecting with others. I've been hearing the term Physical Distancing as a replacement for Social Distancing and it has been resonating deeply. Over the past week I have had more long phone chats than I have had for 15 years: and it is comforting to feel like we are all in this together.⁠

It is imperative that we stay home right now, and I don't know about you, but I have been spending WAY too much time scrolling social media and the news. This is helpful and understandable to a point, but I have noticed that when I immerse myself in the constant stream of conflicting information I feel scared.  When I feel scared, I lose my equanimity and the rational part of my brain. I am not proud to say that I have been virtue-signaling like crazy on social media, spending whole days in my pajamas: frozen.  Yesterday I started back on my self-care routine: movement, meditation, gratitude practice and a more balanced approach to my tech use.  And I feel a lot better.  

What has helped most is reaching out personally to the people I love - especially my elders.  Instagram is huge at this moment in time, but data shows that the vast majority of Instagram users (86.7%) are under 45 years old and only 1.9% of users are over 65.  That means it is time to call your grandparents, parents, elders and other people in your life who have less tech access.  

Social distancing is not emotional distancing!  In fact, I prefer to term physical distancing.  We can still reach out in more personal ways: especially to people in our lives who are not on social media, but are at the highest risk for isolation, infection and even death from this scary virus.  Because loneliness is deadly too. 

Love Each Other,
Christina

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