Kris Rusch in a recent post talks about the devastation wrought in this year. She says “We are emerging, one finger at a time, from the worst of the crisis. And then we’re going to have to stand on the piles of our own personal rubble and see what remains.”

It has been a year of incredible loss. More will come. This crisis will not respect the boundary of 2020-2021, but will walk with us as we step through. There is no way but to do our best, to hang on with our fingertips, to practice kindness and compassion as we go.

I bring this up because my productivity this year has stimulated some self-criticism within some of my friends. It shouldn’t. We are all dealing with varying levels and varying types of grief and stress this year. A year of grief demands that we slow down and respect it. Couple that with the extra demands that this fraught year has made on so many of us and it is no wonder that none of us did everything we wanted to do.

I am here to say that if you survived 2020, you have done a great job. It’s been a hard year. Give yourself the gift of respect for all you have endured. If you didn’t accomplish everything you wanted to, that’s ok. It’s appropriate for 2020. Be gentle with yourself. Kindness starts at home.

Be well, friends!