Standing Together While Apart

Meeting Link:  HONORS PARTY!

Password:  curious

What strange times we live in.

Once again, I'm not going to talk much about the pressures facing us all - because we know them.  No matter your situation, you have challenges facing you in these strange times and it may sometimes feel like you're alone.

Once again, I'm going to remind you that you aren't.

There are so many ways to stay in touch with folks and that's one way that technology is actually helping us.  Technology can often be a double-edged sword, but right now, it's the best way to stay in touch.  Whether it be text messages, Facebook messages, Zoom, Webex, Facetime, TikTok, phone calls, or even letters - there are ways.  If you are feeling like you aren't sure how to reach out, please tell me.  Let's find a way for you to get in touch with other folks who might need or want someone to chat with.  We can try to recreate the casual conversations that happened in the hallways, in the cafe, in the classrooms before and after class started, or even random greetings in the restroom as you waiting in line or washed your hands.

It's true that we are all getting inundated with meeting requests, emails, Blackboard announcements, and media reminders of how much things have changed in the last month or so.  It makes a lot of us tired and it can feel completely overwhelming.  But, we can also control some of it.  We can find ways to use technology to help us feel connected with those around us.  We are all in similar boats and there's no reason why we can't exert a little effort to row those boats a little closer to one another so we aren't just shouting into the fog and hoping for a reply.

Come to our Webex party next week and let's make some connections.  Doesn't have to be about school or homework - we can talk about gardening and cats, Netflix shows and nature walks, where we scored some hand sanitizer or what baking fail we just had in the kitchen.  And we can ask how each is doing.  And maybe you can make a connection with someone there and so that you have someone you can reach out to if you need a friend.

Get sunshine and fresh air.  Stretch your legs and fill your lungs.  And then remember that technology can bring us together at time when we have to be a little farther apart in person.

You see, it's not REALLY social distancing.  It's physical distancing.

We need each other.

We just need each other from a bit of a physical distance right now.  But that doesn't mean we have to be alone.

Physical distancing.

Word cloud created at Word It Out using the article "Maintaining Relationships While Practicing Social Distancing" at Psychology Today.