Rise and Reset
Finding Peace in a Pandemic
By Sarah Stokes
For a few weeks now, the word “rise” has been everywhere for me. A conference called “Rise Up,” the song by the same name that got me through a tough morning, I’m finally reading “Rising Strong” by Brene Brown. My favorite book passages seem to have the word rise in it.
Ok, universe.
I hear you.
Got it, God.
I see the word and I feel the planet shifting. I do believe that we are being given a big opportunity to wake up and know we are all connected. I’ve been learning this from spiritual mentors for years now. However, there is no more proof than seeing this pandemic play out.
No matter how your life is impacted by this virus, you are being called to rise as well.
We have healthcare workers showing the courage they always put on with their scrubs. This time, they have to rise up every morning and knowingly go into a workplace that is being taxed more than ever.
We have grocery store workers and supply chain folks who never likely thought they’d see this kind of supermarket sweep.
We have moms and dads who don’t know what the heck to do about making a living and being new homeschool teachers.
We have business owners who are watching what they’ve worked so hard for being wiped out, but there was no fire or tornado that took out their business, it’s an invisible devastation.
We have state, county, and city service workers workers who are overrun with unemployment claims and social workers who may not know how to help all the kids in this new, added crisis.
We have people who need medical treatment or help who now have have to wonder if going out to get healed will actually make them sick.
We have a generation of elderly people who need church and connection more now than ever who will have to figure out tech or tap into their inner resolve to get through the loneliness.
We are all resetting life as we know it.
We are all being called to rise up.
It may look different, but it’s the same call.
The question on my heart is…
How do we juggle the call to rise up with the reality that we’re all in a stage of grief?
When grief comes it comes in waves. Having been in grief, the only way I managed it was to let the tsunami come when it comes and let the feelings flow. You can’t hide from it, it’s in you.
So knowing we’re all grieving life as we knew it, jobs and income as we knew them, health and safety as we knew them, what can we do?
We do what anyone would expect of someone grieving…
Give them grace and space to process it.
Support them however we can.
We don’t expect someone grieving to do it all with a smile on their face. In fact, we worry more about the person at the funeral who’s seemingly got it all together. We ask them, “What do you need, what does support look like right now, and how are you?”
So how do grief and rising up play in this new sandbox together? I am not sure.
I think it’s the same way we rise up out of grief.
We reach for things that soothe our soul.
We give ourselves space to cry when we need it.
We reach out to our friends and family when we’re scared or lonely.
We take little steps into the new normal.
We come away with a whole lot of perspective on what’s important.
We realize how precious life is and get clear on priorities.
We embrace moments of joy even more.
We value life and appreciate the smallest miracles.
We rise up and meet the new day, the new normal, the new pain, the new “us”.
Whatever it looks like to you today…
Know that it’s ok to feel grief and resolve to rise in the same exact moment.
It’s ok to need a rest.
It’s ok to ask for help.
It’s ok to be the support.
It’s all part of it.
Each and every day we get a chance to hit reset.
Then rise.
