Fear.

The normalcy of the term pandemic has been troubling me lately.

The fear we’ve been carrying is revealing itself in ways beyond feeling scared. Grief, anger, defensive, exhaustion, instability and more.

Adam Grant wrote about some of these emotional impacts in The New York Times recently, looking at specifically at languishing.

“Languishing is a sense of stagnation and emptiness. It feels as if you’re muddling through your days, looking at your life through a foggy windshield. And it might be the dominant emotion of 2021”, Grant writes.

Anyone else relate here?

I’ve got my hand up and I’ve noticed it with teachers I’ve been working with. The ongoing fear has created moments of languishing for all of us - some keep going and stuff it away, others stagnate and numb the pain - most of us do a combo of both.

So what can we do to resurface and lift the fog?

Rather than self-scolding and averting, we can accept that we’re human. This is a time more than ever, where awakening or enlightenment means accepting ourselves.

It expands our vision and gives us the energy to keep creating and connecting.

Phoebe and I begin Conscious Leadership next week, a time when inner work is needed. We must feel our fears and all that it brings, but we can also use to it create our most meaningful work.

Bring it on. And as Tara Brach reminds us: that pain you’re encountering? It’s not your fault.

Love,

a-sometimes-languid-Leanne xoxo