Today’s Hashtags are brought to you by my fellow young adult author CHERYL RAINFIELD. Visit Cheryl’s post explaining the day’s hashtags HERE.
Here’s a snippet that, in itself, says a lot to the situation. It’s definitely a time for kindness…kindness for ourselves and each other:
It is especially traumatizing for people who already deal with mental health issues; survivors of abuse and trauma; kids or adults enduring abuse now; and people experiencing loss and grief, financial insecurity, pandemic-inspired racism, physical health issues or disabilities, or who are on the front lines. And we know trauma affects the brain. Yet people are being shamed for not being productive, or for how they are coping.
Also from Cheryl’s site, this statement uses all three of the day’s hashtags:
Please let others know it’s okay to #ShieldYourMentalHealth and know that there is #NoShameInCoping however you need to, and that it can help to #ReachOutToConnect
And from Dictionary.com one of the definitions for MERCY, which I see as a word that ties the above statement together rather nicely. We have reached a time when we all need a little mercy. We need to show one another mercy and it’s also so important that we show mercy to ourselves. We need to find our own paths through this crisis and we need to stop shaming others for the paths they’re choosing.
MERCY: an act of kindness, compassion, or favor: She has performed countless small mercies for her friends and neighbors.
It’s possible that Rosanne Cash was attempting to be helpful when she tweeted about Shakespeare being productive during the plague. Of course it’s possible. But as much as it was a call-out for people to get busy doing those things they put off, it was also a statement filled with judgement.
“Just a reminder that when Shakespeare was quarantined because of the plague, he wrote ‘King Lear.’ ” —Rosanne Cash, on Twitter, March 13, 2020
You are not required to be productive during the Covid-19 pandemic. You do not need to measure yourself against Shakespeare during the plague, or anyone else for that matter. You only need to be you.
Be kind. Be supportive. Don’t measure yourself against others. Reach out. Stay safe. Do the things you need to do to get through this. There is no shame in not accomplishing things right now. Cope how you need to cope. Check in with others. Check in with yourself. Show a little tenderness. PERFORM SMALL MERCIES.
Take care out there. And share the day’s hashtags, help Cheryl get her message of self-care out there.
#ShieldYourMentalHealth
#NoShameInCoping
#ReachOutToConnect
With love…
KEVIN CRAIG 