I felt happy last Saturday. I joined 750,000 people – mostly women – in downtown LA, wearing a pussy hat, and we protested the current President* and his attitudes and actions toward women. I was pretty proud that I was there with my two adult daughters, and that we had knit 24 (and counting) pussy hats and were able to make a sizable donation to Planned Parenthood, as a result.
We knew we were part of something big. Bigger than expected, and even bigger than we knew. In 600 cities around the world, millions and millions of people chose to join the Women’s March and thereby chose…
Presence, Power, Positivity and Pussy hats!
Here we are a week later, and most of us have forgotten how it felt to be in a march on that day. We’ve been fed a steady diet of doom, gloom and emergency from the White House, the news and our communities on social media.
We are worried. We have to take ACTION NOW. We feel powerless. Again.
I was writing in my morning pages as I do each day (thanks to Julia Cameron), and I realized I have stayed in high-alert since the election. I’ve been in crisis-mode. I’ve been asking myself and my friends…
Oh My God, what is wrong with the world?? What can I do? What must I do to survive?
I’ve been outraged, and fearful, and doomsaying, and writing letters to Electors, and calling various senators and sending postcards and knitting pussy hats furiously. Literally, f-u-r-i-o-u-s-l-y! For me, I’m realizing I have to go back to Presence. Power. Positivity. (And Pussy Hats.)
For Presence, I’m centering on where I am right now. What needs doing in my life? Where do I need to reengage in my own life, my habits, structure, self-care? I think I’ve gotten a little addicted to outrage (and there’s plenty available to me) and adrenaline and crisis. There’s very little presence, when everything you’re doing has to be right now, and has to happen or you’re a _________ (whatever horrible name you sometimes call yourself.)
For Power, I’m empowering myself to take a step back from the activism and constant red alert that my friends and even my family say is necessary to save the world as we know it. They may be right, and our President* may destroy our Democracy in the 4 years we’ve given him to steward it. I do not believe in “giving him a chance.” But there is only so much I can do myself. I’m stepping back, with the intention of checking in periodically. I put it in my calendar to check back every Tuesday to see what I can do to pitch in and make a difference. I need the distance, for my life to come back into relief. With a planned weekly check-in, I feel empowered again, in my life and in the political arena. where it is important that we PAY ATTENTION and RESIST.
For Positivity, I’m permitting myself to NOT “stay tuned.” I will scan my favorite news outlets for political news after my work is done, and about once a week. I will not defile every day with that President*s world view of hate and exclusion, fear and threat. I will live my lovely life, get myself out of crisis mode, so I can remember that it’s in the country’s interest – to some degree – that I continue to make a living and pay my taxes, that I get back to exercise and keep myself healthy, and that I help my clients create and get their voices out into the world, and write.
Now, more than ever, it is important to write.
This is not a conforming thought. Many of you are tsking me now, because you feel, we must resist the President* at every turn. We have to be wary and think ahead, thwart him. I agree, that has to happen. You may feel I’ve already gotten “tired” and am “giving up.”
But like the string quartet who played valiantly on the deck of the Titanic as it sank, I feel it is equally important to continue doing what you hold dear, and live the rich and free life you have as an American citizen. You may not be permitted to do so for long, and it is a service to the others who are working hard to right this thing of beauty we call the United States of America.
So I wear my pussyhat everywhere I go, and I’m regaining my dull and productive life. I’m leaving behind crisis mode, anxiety and fear. This may not work for you, but it is my only way forward. It will keep me in the game with my best assets at hand – my creativity, resourcefulness and positive outlook. When you’re fighting an ogre, you need your best strengths. I’m not letting this ogre derail mine.
*I don’t endorse name-calling, not by the President* or about him. It is lazy and uncivil. I’m pleased with the “President with asterix” appellation, and tip my hat to Charles Pierce of Esquire. He’s one of the sources I’ll be reading on Tuesdays.