Open Letter: Give Yourself and Others Grace Right Now

Hello Friend,

I don't know about you but oftentimes I find myself being my own worst critic and the queen of hypocrisy. Maybe you do too.

If you're active on social media I'm sure you've seen the memes alluding to the fact that you should come out of quarantine with a new skill, a new perspective, or, at the very least, a spotless house.

Those things are great in theory. And I get it. For those who aren't working right now, it looks like you now have all the time in the world. But that's not the reality.

Heck, if you have kids your entire world looks different. Different schedules, different attitudes, and a heck of a lot more cooking and cleaning.

So, the house may look worse than usual. Meals may not be the pinnacle of health. Guess what? That's ok.

No job and no kids? Mentally you're dealing with the stress of unemployment. Trying to figure out how you're supposed to eat and get the bills paid. Not to mention asking all the "what ifs". That's a lot for anyone. Even without a stay-at-home order.

For me, other than not going out on the weekends may life looks somewhat "normal" as I'm still going to work. One area in my life where I've been getting caught up is when I have to run my errands.

I try to plan ahead and be efficient so I'm not at the store constantly. I try to meal prep. But lately, I haven't had an ounce of motivation to do so. In fact, just tonight I cooked a personal-sized breakfast pizza for dinner instead of cooking the "real" food I stocked up on weeks ago. Oh, and last night? I had a package of Ramen Noodles.

It's easy to get down on myself. I think about how I should be eating better, how I spent all this money on "good food" and I should be making it. But I often find myself drained from the world. This is where I need to have grace with myself. Sometimes a little easy to make comfort food can make the insanity of the world go quiet, just for a moment. Granted, this behavior shouldn't be a habit, but for now, I'm okay with it.

Going back to errands. I found myself at Walmart recently getting so annoyed at other shoppers. The aisles now have arrows so we can go single file and, in theory, better social distance. People clearly weren't paying attention. Some stopping mid-aisle to chat, or ponder while I just stood there. I could feel myself getting annoyed but then I realized...

This is not normal.

No one is used to a one way through a grocery store. I have, a handful of times, gotten too close to someone simply because I forgot. This may be the new normal, but it's not normal.

So give some grace whether it be to yourself or others. We all could certainly use some.

-B