The Hard Prune delivers practical tools for dystopian times to your inbox most Fridays.
I know it’s been a hell of a week, and I hope you are taking breaks. This is going to be a marathon, not a sprint
I’m in the US celebrating my 50th birthday with my family, so there’s no essay this week. It’s been pretty surreal being here — a lot of cognitive dissonance. I’ll write more about it in next week’s post.
For now, I’d encourage you to re-read the post on equanimity. The important thing right now is not to narrow down the scope of emotion so that there is no room for anything but fear and overwhelm. Allow the other things to bubble up too. Laugh when something’s funny. Allow ease when it shows up (if given enough room, it will). Recover. Hypervigilance accomplishes nothing.
And to those of you busy organizing; calling and writing your representatives and senators; and heading out weekly (or more!) to protest with your signs, energy and resilience, I want to say a great, big thank you. Not everybody can do what you’re doing.
I know that many of you are retired and did not plan to spend your well-earned leisure years in this way. But you are worried about the world your grandchildren will inherit. You are concerned about the people who are suffering keenly the injustices of this barbarous administration. You have space in your days, freed from the acute demands of parenting and work, and you are using it join together and make your voices heard.
I am so grateful to you.
The Hard Prune will be back with a new tool next Friday.
Postcard from the Sonoran Desert
