In 2020, a year when virtually every kind of social interaction was virtual---and distant---we didn't have the normal happy hours with friends to fall back on after a stressful week of work or study. We couldn't just pop over to our best friend's house without being absolutely sure we weren't putting them in harms way. Without cocktails or dinners out or meals at our good friends houses, we were forced to find otherways to deal, to cope, and to expel the chronic stress which met us throughout a year of racial division, political unrest, and, oh yeah --- a global pandemic.
Like many others, I suddenly found myself isoated from friends, in-person community, and ways of interacting with those in my life I had long become accustomed to.
What I did have an abundance of was baths. Do-it-yourself- at-home manicures. Korean beauty masks. Hand-poured candles purchased from TJ Maxx.
In addition to walking the dog and weekends away with my boyfriend (the only other social contact I had aside from the four members of my family who lived within a few miles of me) these little treats for the body and spirit were the things which got me through.
The pandemic ushered us, all of us, swiftly and unexpectedly into a time of isolation from one another. Without my normal sources of support, I began to look for joy in the little things. In a year of so many big, devastating things: a worldwide pandemic, wildfires, smoke-covered regions, systemic racism, police brutality, rising hostility--the little things became so very important.
Being held in the evenings by the embrace of a warm bubble bath.
Selecting a dazzling new design to pop onto 10 exquisite nail beds every couple of weeks.
The sweet scent of rose, gardenia, oud, and cashmere filling the room from a flickering wick.
These became my treats, my little slices of heaven, while sickness, racism, and environmental injustice raged. These became my little reminders of good amidst the chaos of evil which surrounded.
Sometimes it just takes a little thing to remind us that no matter how crazy it gets, it's all gonna, eventually, be okay. If we can dare to love ourselves and those around us in the meantime.
For more resources for BIPOC bodies and self-care during the pandemic, please visit : https://www.shorelineschools.org/Page/7882 for a panel on self-care in the midst of racial trauma I was honored to lead with Dr. Derek McNeil of The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology.
Most of all, please continue to take good care of yourself.
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