Issue #25  // How "Am" I? 🙆

via @mytherapistsays

From Gill:

This meme has been cracking me up because A) Broad City is hilarious and B) how are any of us right now, really?

We’re collectively worried and stressed for very real reasons, and we’re all doing the best we can under the circumstances.

Melia and I have shared that we’ve both had some bright spots and some “wobble days” this past week – and that it has helped enormously to focus on gratitude and look to the helpers when we’re feeling overwhelmed by it all.

We joke that this is like the Olympics of personal development. You know those coping strategies we talk about? Now is the time to use them (all of them)! This is what we’ve been training for!

Here are a few things that are helping me right now:

1. Our roundup of 5 ways to cope with the coronavirus quarantine. 

We're experimenting with ways to keep ourselves calm and connected, and we've collected some of our favorites – from free exercise and meditation resources to practices for self-soothing and giving grace and space to others.

2. The words “acceptance” and “self-compassion.” 

This weekend I talked to a good friend, a therapist whose clients include health care providers who are under incredible stress. She said she’s emphasizing these words in her professional and personal life. 

Acceptance because this is our reality right now, and there are so many things we can’t change, no matter how hard we fight against them. Self-compassion because this is hard and we’re doing what we can to be good leaders, employees, friends, family members, parents, and people.

3. “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver. 

I love Mary Oliver’s poetry, and this one really got me this week.

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Take care of yourself 💕  

🎙 Latest Episode: #33 - Turning Setbacks into Comebacks, with Claire Sturzaker

We talk to Claire Sturzaker, a world traveler and creator of the blog Tales of a Backpacker. Claire shares how what seemed like a major setback in her life – getting fired – was actually an opportunity for change, and helped her deal with other obstacles in the future.

• Listen to the episode and read the show notes 

👉 Steal This Tip: Claire Sturzaker Edition

Just to remember that nothing is forever. If you’re going through a tough time – this too shall pass. But also, if you want to try something new, don’t forget that it doesn’t have to be forever. Try it out, see if you like it – and if you don’t, then try something else.

👋 ICYMI

Minisode: Practice the Pause🎙

Instead of reacting automatically to something that happens, pause first. Tap into your kinder, wiser self before you respond.

Listen to the minisode.

😄 Things We Text Each Other

via @thecut

😍 Stuff We Love Right Now

On the Interwebs  🖥

From Melia: 

• Good News We Can Use
  From Melia: @Goodable on Twitter curates the kind of good news we all need right now, like Patrick Stewart reading a sonnet a day from Shakespeare and a neighborhood dinosaur parade in Milwaukee. It’s a stream of reminders that beauty and goodness can come out of suffering.

From Gill: 

• Virtual Movie Night
  Netflix Party is a Chrome plugin that lets you host long-distance watch parties for TV shows and movies. It syncs video playback and adds group chat to whatever you're streaming on Netflix, which is a brilliant way to hang out with faraway loved ones. Our mom sent this to us, and I’m dying to test it out.
  
  

On Our Screens & In Our Ears  📺  🎧

From Melia: 

• Trifecta of Wisdom
  Besides text threads with my loved ones, my lifeline these days has been the regular Instagram videos that Glennon Doyle, Brené Brown, and Elizabeth Gilbert have been posting. They are my trifecta of wisdom, humor, and humanity (and they’re all friends! ❤️). They’re honest about how hard this situation is, and they allow for feeling what we’re feeling fully and without judgment or shame.
  
  Favorites:
  
  - Glennon Doyle on why this is so hard: She relates this experience to early sobriety, when our normal distractions and crutches fall away and we’re faced with ourselves.
  
  - Brené Brown’s first Unlocking Us episode on FFTs (F’ing First Time): It’s frustrating to do anything for the first time, and right now we’re all learning to navigate this new reality for the first time. On the newest ep, she talks with Glennon about her new memoir, Untamed. I just started reading it, and it’s hard to put down.
  
  - Elizabeth Gilbert on Facing Fear with Compassion: I hope everyone will listen to this. Liz has such a calming presence and talks about fear as a perfectly normal response to uncertainty. She recommends writing a letter to yourself from Love every time you’re afraid. I’ve done this a couple of times, and it helps.

On Our Plates   🍽 

From Melia: 

• Easy Homemade Ramen 
  Darren has been keeping the family’s morale up by making a variety of delicious meals. He’s great at “the Chopped Challenge,” whipping up something exceptional with the ingredients we have around the house. I especially loved the ramen with shredded chicken and hardboiled egg. He doesn’t use recipes like I do, but I’ve used this one before and it’s similar.

From Gill: 

• Creamy Grits
  We’ve been hoarding some delicious Anson Mills grits in our freezer for a few months and decided now was the time to make them. I’ve struggled to get the cook time and creaminess right in the past, but I followed this recipe and ended up with the perfect grits. Don’t fear the butter, cheese, and cream. If you’re gonna do grits, do ‘em right.

If you like the Semi-Together podcast, why not share the pod with a friend who would enjoy it? You can also become a patron here.  

Until next time! 

Love,

Melia & Gill 😘😘

Enjoyed this newsletter? Forward it to a friend!

If you are that lucky friend, subscribe here.

Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto.