The last year has challenged all of us in different ways. As my mother-in-law said just a month into COVID-19, "there is no one not affected by this." It just looks a little different for each of us. 

Whether we like it or not, we're all in this together. We see it differently, as though we're all touching one part of a mountain from different parts of it's vast landscape.

Some folks are grieving the death of someone they love. COVID took them. 

Some are currently battling it. Still battling that positive diagnosis from a while ago. They might be a long-hauler. 

Some people are higher risk and are concerned for their safety and survival. 

Some folks have already had the virus and it was mild and fine. They've got some antibodies, they are ready to get back to living. 

So many people are struggling with their mental health. The lack of permission, whether real or arbitrary, that they have to access their usual support systems (school, friends, family). And even if you can access any of those things there is a heavy cloud hanging above it reminding you there is risk. 

Some folks have carried on as usual. Maybe they believe the virus is fake, or that it's not that serious, but regardless their lives have been pressed up against this truth for them when faced with pushback.

Some parents are seeing their kids struggle. Distance Learning doesn't work for everyone, and they need their kids to go to school for everyone's mental wellbeing. They're tipping into a new pandemic and it's dark and feels like slipping. 

Some folks are hopeful. The end feels near. It's beautiful to get excited for summer, for BBQs and rollerblading and reuniting with life.

Some folks are discouraged with the new variant. Will this ever fucking end? How can we possibly keep doing this?

Some are fine. It's real, they believe it, they just don't mind not having to engage with the world like they used to. 

Some have shifted and changed with the waves of the Universe that keep coming. They're riding them, rolling with them, they're not the same person they used to be.

Some are secretly re-engaging with their lives but don't want anyone to know because of the judgment and shame that is so freely throw around.

Some are so afraid for the safety of someone they love. Their husband, their child, their parents. It's all-consuming. 

Some wonder if they're navigating this correctly? Should they be loosening up? Tightening up?

Some second-guess if it's real. It seems so suffocating and abstract at this point, is this even reality?

Some have learned how unsustainable their life pre-COVID was; either their marriage, a friendship, their relationship with friends or family or work or a neighbor. This change in life has forced them to re-evaluate boundaries and how to exist in the life they've created for themselves. 

Some have leapt in to new meaning. They've found new purpose, new reasons for living and fighting. It's not just a pandemic after all, there is a global shift has asked us to see things with new eyes over, and over, and over again. 

Some are grateful, more now than ever, for sunshine and life and flowers and coffee. Little things. They see it all anew.

Some are not doing well. It's dark. It's getting real dark. They're not sure what to hook on to to pull themselves up because that sounds like so much work and they can't see or think clearly. 

Some are gone from the by-products of this mess. Their mental health, their spiritual well-being, their fill-in-the-blank has suffered to the point of no return. 

Some are just holding on. We're almost through it. We're almost through it. 

Some will never see the world the same again. They can't believe the way everyone can see it so differently and feel entitled to not follow the rules. 

Some will also never see the world the same again. They are glad that everyone can see it differently and feel empowered to navigate this the way they must for survival as a whole.

Some have given up. They've let go of their hope in humanity to do the right thing. 

Some have also given up. They've let go of their fear and found ways to live outside of binary thinking in terms of safety. 

Yet everyone is still affected. There is no one not affected by this. 

As for me, I went to an in-person yoga class a couple weeks ago for the first time in a year, and I could not believe how different of a person I am. My body was overwhelmed with gratitude for the teacher, for the studio, for the other students. I re-engaged with part of my life that has meant so much to me for so long but was inaccessible because of the devisions I made with the circumstances I had, but feeling it again felt like butter. 

Wherever you're at in this shared pandemic, whatever part of the mountain you're touching, I hope your head is above the fray. Hang on.

Warmly,

Allyssa