Yesterday morning, I just wanted to lie in bed with the covers pulled over my head and wait for the world to get better. I know I am not alone in this feeling. The weather is grey and cold. The winds of politics are raging. Isn’t it time to cocoon for a while?
My wiser self knows that while cocooning can be helpful to nurture ourselves, ultimately we need to get out of bed. As human beings, we all have a deep need to contribute. Whatever the tasks in front of us, it actually helps us to accomplish them. We have a fundamental need to be productive and engaged and to feel the sense of belonging that occurs when we’re connected to a larger mission.
My colleagues know how I like to “get things done.” While lying in bed, I imagined all the huge things I should take on: March on Washington! Instigate a strike! Create an informational website or app! But none of that is actually in my wheelhouse.
Instead, when the world seems chaotic and painful, we may need to be more intentional about our contributions. The Collaborating Skill of Contributing Intentionally reminds us that we can be change agents when we use our knowledge, emotional intelligence and skills and put them into action. As Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés reminds us in “We Were Made for These Times”:
“Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach….What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.”
The other part of contributing intentionally is that it is easier and more effective when we have filled our resilience battery, when we are calm and centered. It might require some nurturing of ourselves, whether that is time off of social media, a nap, or a walk in the woods. When we are grounded, we can trust ourselves that we have the tools to work effectively. And that we know how to mend what is within our reach. Knowing that the “yin” of nurturing myself balances the “yang” of contributing intentionally helps sustain us for the marathon that life sometimes hands us.
What contribution will you make today? (And know that it’s okay if you need 5 more minutes in bed to figure it out. 🤣 )
With Resilience and ❤️
Meri and the Dovetail Team
Check out the skills Meri is using:
Collaborating Skill of Contributing Intentionally
Centering Skills of Nurturing Myself