A Permission Slip to Slow Down

Hi Octave Family,

I’m Anna Zelig, one of the clinicians at Octave’s Bryant Park office.

As we’re all aware, there are many helpful resources, tips, and recommendations circulating around during this challenging time. In thinking about what I wanted to share with our community, my initial thoughts were centered around how to navigate your emotions through uncertainty. As a therapist, I recommend a daily gratitude practice, meditation, and creating consistent routines, and have found these especially helpful during times of heightened stress.

Although these are all great things to try, I paused, took a step back, and realized you don’t necessarily need another therapist telling you what to do, or tasks to add to your daily to-do list.

This global pandemic has stolen our sense of security, safety and normalcy, and has impacted every aspect of our daily lives. We are all struggling with feelings of grief, anxiety, and fear.

So I’d like to take this opportunity to say that whatever you may be feeling today, your feelings are valid and a normal reaction to our current collective experience. It’s difficult to sit with these emotions, and there’s a wish to charge through them and push them aside.

We would rather reach for our super hero capes and instead focus on making this a time of great productivity, i.e., a time of decluttering the apartments and homes we are self isolating in, perfecting the "work from home look," or posting #dailyquarantinegoals. Don’t get me wrong, decluttering and making the most of this time is fantastic, and if that is getting you through these days, that’s great.

But I want to also make space for allowing yourself to feel these feelings. We are all doing the best that we can do, and we can all be a little kinder and gentler to ourselves for just being good enough. In times of chaos, “good enough” is perfect. It’s what we can all strive for.

Whether that means you’re working and taking video calls in drawstring pants, juggling a new role as your child's teachers assistant, being a short order cook, all while consuming the endless 24/7 news cycle, and most importantly, keeping your family and loved ones safe... I invite you all to slow down, be a little more gentle with yourself today and if nothing else, stay connected and stay in the present moment.

We will get through this, and it is my sincere hope and wish that at the end, you look back with compassion and grace and think, “I did the best I could, and my good enough was great.”

Warmly,

Anna

A Permission Slip to Slow Down

Hi Octave Family,

So I’d like to take this opportunity to say that whatever you may be feeling today, your feelings are valid and a normal reaction to our current collective experience. It’s difficult to sit with these emotions, and there’s a wish to charge through them and push them aside.

But I want to also make space for allowing yourself to feel these feelings. We are all doing the best that we can do, and we can all be a little kinder and gentler to ourselves for just being good enough. In times of chaos, “good enough” is perfect. It’s what we can all strive for.

We will get through this, and it is my sincere hope and wish that at the end, you look back with compassion and grace and think, “I did the best I could, and my good enough was great.”

Stay in touch.

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