Making despair different

Yes it’s a bit of a funny idea, but I want to find a way to make despair and hopelessness more bearable. This isn’t a silver-linings approach, more of a “well you’re in this mess so how to make peace with it?”

This comes from years of dealing with clinical depression long before this pandemic ever started.

For me, when I’m at my worst, the last thing I want to hear is “it’ll get better” or “cheer up” or “don’t give up hope.” When what I find most helpful is just acknowledging how awful it is, or how bleak it is, or how uncertain I feel.

So in this way, I want to honor despair, and honor hopelessness. They have their place, they’re perfectly normal feelings, and stigmatizing them only gives them more power over us.

I’m not sure what this will look like, but I believe scary things like this just need some playfulness and curiosity. The percolations and thinkings are happening…