Taking the morning to rest because I have a full afternoon and evening. As I sit here with my coffee, within a week of this election, I cannot help but think about how low everyone's reserves are right now. Nothing is normal.

This election would be stressful under normal circumstances, but many of us are lacking even the support and presence of our family and friends, our normal work routines. Many of us are stretched thin doing jobs that shouldn't be ours (schooling our kids, etc).

Many of us are unemployed, recently evicted, just holding things together by a thread while a pandemic spikes around us. Perhaps we ourselves are sick. Perhaps we're working in unsafe conditions. Things are unstable and we're scrambling to keep up with basics.

We've lost the ability to plan long-term or short-term. We've lost normalcy. Lost many of our old ways to cope. And yet, so many are going on, as if we can keep powering though month after month. As if the more we work or try for normalcy, the more normal things would be.

But the more we try to create normalcy, the more exhausted we will be. The more we expect ourselves to perform at our usual levels, the worse off we will be.

Things aren't normal and they won't be going back to normal for a while. We may be looking at another Passover or Easter in quarantine, and that's if our leaders decide to do something about the virus. We have to face that we are in extraordinary times and save our energy.

And in the meantime, we need to grieve. We need to stop trying to force normality. This year will be different. Embrace it. Put our energies to helping others. If you're in charge of something, understand that lots of people are dropping balls right now. Be kind.

And when you screw something up? Acknowledge and move on.

And when someone blows up at you? Recognize that reaction comes from a place of stress.

Try to create down space. Not doomscrolling space. Real down space. To lay in bed. To read a book or watch escapist TV. Hydrate.

Because we were not created for this grinding constancy. Our bodies break down, our mental and emotional states too.

Don't kill yourself moving forward because you think people are requiring it of you.