How to Endure All The Things: Don't Go It Alone

I’ve been struggling with what to write here lately, mainly because…well…look around. When the least awful thing the Trump Administration has done is inadvertently added a journalist to a Signal thread about bombing Yemen, then you know your country is on the brink. Last week I commiserated with more than a few people that by Wednesday morning we feel like we should be at Friday afternoon. This week promises more of the same.

Person and their dog out on the tidal flats in Provincetown Harbor. January 2025.

Writing about coaching, leadership, or mindfulness seems woefully inadequate for the moment, yet I admire the people who I follow who continue to do so. I know many of them personally, so I know they understand the gravity of the moment and don’t simply have their heads in the sand. 

I’m having an easier time continuing to make progress on and post my photography work and related blog, which is a big part of my non-coaching and non-consulting life. I also recently wrote and finished a poem for the first time in years, and the Provincetown Independent published it. 

For some reason, I feel like art in this moment might matter more than anything else. But I also know that that is naive. 

Art is (always) part of the solution, but we need smart, progressive, patriotic people–ideally those who have real connections with places that are not Washington, DC–working to fight the existential threat we face. 

I also know how much I appreciate my coach lately, as well as my meditation practice and my friends who also have a mindfulness practice. We need these supports–and community–to endure (always, but especially right now).

In short, things are hard for those of us who care about people and policy and democracy, and who are working to protect any or all of them. So I’m using this space to remind people to pace themselves and to reach out for the help they need. 

No single person is going to fix the mess we’re in, so no one needs to be a hero and grind themselves into dust. Ask for help. Get some rest. Hydrate. Be ready for anything. Get some sunshine everyday. 

We will endure. In the meantime, be well!