If you are feeling more steady than last week, & you seem healthy & your people seem healthy & you feel like you should be doing something but you don’t have a clear sense of what you should do yet your heart hurts & you feel a vague sense of guilt for being okay at the moment:

Here is what you do:

REST for a moment.

There is more to come. The first wave of activated helpers will tire, will become exhausted, will have to rotate off the front.

A fresh wave of helpers of various kinds will be needed soon enough- current “active” helpers will become sick, or bereaved or just so so tired and need to step back from their current activities

And it won’t be confusing what you should do. It will become clear.

REST is part of how we will get through this.

We will all need it, and we will need to rest in shifts and phases while some step forward and others step back.

Don’t feel guilty. Rest up.

You will be needed and you need to be well.

Believe me, if you WANT to help, but you don’t see how yet,

It will become clear when it is your shift.

Also: you’ve probably only felt “okay” for like two days after several weeks of waves of terror and anticipatory grief.

So just REST a second.

If you know what to do and feel energized to take action that is right for you: great. Do it. Know that at some point you will have to step back for some R & R.

And then it will be time for the next wave to step forward.

It takes time to figure out what your best strength is, what your resources are, what your vulnerabilities are & what you need to prioritize
It takes a moment to figure out what you have to give & how ro preserve yourself while giving.

Especially in unprecedented circumstances

And you probably need to REST in order for your psyche to consolidate its path forward, and let the adrenaline settle and hunker in for a moment and allow your defenses to relax and allow a creative, generative gesture to emerge.

Rest a minute.

It will become clear. Your time will come.

(There is also the possibility that you are currently doing exactly what is most essential for you to do - care for kids, or elders, checking in on friends / loved ones you are separated from - donating canned goods & holding your shit together as best as you can. That is A LOT)