“The nicest thing about the rain is that it always stops. Eventually.”
-A.A. Milne, Eeyore // Winnie the Pooh
📣There are nine days left in my book campaign! Thank you so so so much to those who have pre-ordered or supported in other ways already— I only have 15% left to go for my baseline goal! I've also decided to donate all contributions above $4000 (the minimum for my publisher to publish a paperback) to a COVID19-related cause (still figuring out what would be most impactful - if you have any suggestions, let me know). If you haven't pre-ordered yet, you can do so here.
Hi there,
I'm back! I didn't think anyone would notice/care that I missed last week's letter, but at least two of you called me out lol so I appreciate it. I started writing last week but couldn't really get the words out. Each week is so different that the little I did write isn't even relevant anymore. I did, however, participate in a virtual letter swap last week that you can check out here.
Anyhow, onto this week. I'd like to discuss the phrase, this too shall pass. It's been everywhere lately, for good reason. While I fully support the essence of these words, I think the interpretation deserves a second look.
A doodle by my dear friend Sophia
When I was fifteen years old, my angsty tumblr girl phase led my motto to be "this too shall pass" (Did I ever break out of this phase? lmk). This was also the year I almost died. I won't go into details right now (You can read all the gory bits in my book, which you can preorder here 😉), but long story short, I was going through a serious medical condition and I told myself, "this too shall pass" to get me through each day. That’s all fine and good, except I told myself this in lieu of reaching out for help…because I thought it would pass. My stubbornness eventually led me to the ER and subsequently the ICU for four days. The doctor told my parents that if I'd waited even one more day to go to the hospital, it would've been too late (yeah it would’ve passed…I would have passed lol okay not funny but my reaction to these types of things is humor so I apologize).
Why am I thinking about this story now? Well, besides the fact that I think of it every time I see these four words, there are certain takeaways I think that are relevant to the context at hand.
"This too shall pass" is not an excuse to completely ignore facts and realities of our current situation.
"This too shall pass" is not an excuse to not ask for help. Remember, asking for help is just as necessary as helping others. Know what quadrant you're in.
"This too shall pass" can help us keep perspective that there will be better days.
Before anyone comes after me, please know that these words are what got me through many difficult times, which is why I have thought so much about them. Because of this, I know if I'm not careful, these words can be used as a numbing, denying, or *repressing mechanism to escape the present moment. Nothing's changed about that— the moment is still all we have. And this moment will pass, just like every other, good or bad.
With awareness and intention, we can still have agency over how this moment is passing. We can choose to numb, deny, or *suppress, or we can choose to embrace, help, or grow.
Much love and light,
Amy
*Not sure whether suppress or repress is the right word so I used both. Maybe you can use either depending on whether this is done subconsciously (unknowingly repressing) or consciously (choosing with intention to suppress). Feel to reply if you know ☺️
et cetera
Grateful for these flowers I see on my daily walks.
📚 reading
Climate grief: How we mourn a changing planet. Thankful for my friend who knows me well and passed this along. I loved the vocabulary named in this article as well as the visuals. A couple of relevant quotes:
If grief is not recognised, it can manifest itself as anxiety. There are many kinds of anxiety, but a key factor in practically all of them is a feeling of uncertainty. When we experience anxiety, we know something of a threat or a problem, but not everything. Anxiety is borne of encountering problematic uncertainty.
Attig depicted the whole grief process as “relearning the world”. Something has profoundly changed, something or someone is either lost or in the process of going away, and grief can help to us adjust...We need to relearn the world: it is not like it was, or like we thought it was.
The introduction to Smoke & Mirrors by Gemma Milne. The full book is coming out on April 23rd! It's a really interesting take on "how hype obscures the future and how to see past it." An ode to all my fellow multipotentialites out there:
Spotting and contextualising hype isn’t about learning the nitty-gritty of how science and technology work, but rather seeing how they fit into the systems of society and looking at ideas through various different perspectives, such as media, financial markets, law, geopolitics, socioeconomics and the environment.
🖊 writing
Background for the newcomers— I’m writing a book with the working title of Reclaiming Control: Looking Inward to Recalibrate Your Life slated for publication in July 2020.
Seriously, THANK YOU to everyone who has supported my preorder campaign thus far. It truly truly means the world. If you haven't preordered a copy yet, you can do so below for the next nine days :)
I finallyyy got feedback on my manuscript from my editor. April and May will be very full months of editing. If you've preordered and are a beta reader, look out for early released chapters and opportunities to vote on my cover design!
That's all, thanks for reading 💛A shorter letter this week because we're all going through a lot.
If you're interested in mindfulness, let me know here. If you want to chat about anything, anything at all, feel free to reply to this email or schedule a time here.
If any of this resonated with you, feel free to share or subscribe below to keep up with more musings. You can read past letters here.