If you grew up in the 80s and 90s then you were singing my title. 🎼🥁🎸
I was singing this song at the beginning of the pandemic when the lockdowns started (except for maybe that “I feel fine” part). But I’m singing it again now because no matter how much we want things to go “back to normal” I hope things never do. (At least for America anyway!). This post is partly in response to the highly respectable and intelligent Dr. Vinay Prasad’s tweet that I read earlier today:
I absolutely respect the sentiment and am SO GLAD that science is proving that lockdowns and mask mandates and vaccine mandates are not proving scientifically to benefit in the way they intended and need to be thrown out, but I don’t even remember what “normal” used to be and I actually hope that there is still a glimmer of a chance that we can learn something from the pandemic and create a new reality, one that has a stronger public health infrastructure that actually works!
The last two years have been absolute chaos and yet there is a greater opportunity than ever before to greatly shift our perspectives and ways of being. At the beginning of the pandemic, before any vaccines had been created or mandates had come down, we had a glimpse of what community coming together could look like. Let's take inspiration from those early pandemic moments and think collectively again. Let's think about what equity really means (I could write a whole book on this, so stay tuned for me to return to this topic). Let's dive deeper than bandaid solutions and conventional medicine alone. Let's look at the root cause of disease and suffering and let's focus on starting completely anew. Let’s completely reimagine public health campaigns to focus on helping all Americans achieve optimal health and wellbeing.
I have plenty of ideas. Especially for healthcare and education and the physical infrastructure of communities. OUR HEALTH is in our hands, AND our environments either make it easier or harder to reach our health goals (read more about Blue Zones and why environment matters).
This newsletter is a reminder to myself to slow down and create the container for a life well-lived. I don't want to constantly live in my mind, trying to solve all of the world's problems. I want to live in my heart and my body too. My life is a microcosm of the world. If I can focus small and change my own life maybe I can have an impact on those around me.
I've read far too many articles and listened to far too many scientists and doctors speak about this pandemic over the last 2 years. Sometimes, my head feels like it will explode. (However, I’m extremely grateful to have found level-headed doctors like Dr. Vinay Prasad in the last couple of months- Thank you Dr. Prasad!!). I'm working on limiting the time I spend on this because I know that no matter how much I read and learn, it doesn’t shift my day-to-day reality. I need to create good news by living my own life to the fullest, in whatever way possible.
The trees are my new anecdote. The funny thing is, their medicine has been available to me all along. They've been waiting for me to walk among them, and rest up against their strong backs, held by their magnificence and strength. Aaahhh.... The gift of exhaling all of my worries, deep into their roots.
Thank you for being here. What do you dream? How do you think we should pick up the pieces of this broken country and world after 2 crazy years of mass confusion and chaos? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments.
Peace.
and remember, the roots have the answers…