A week or so after my state of Wisconsin shut down, I knew I should be feeling lucky. I was healthy, safe, and able to work at home. Days of Zoom meetings punctuated by occasional masked and hurried forays to the grocery store went by. I got used to making radio at home, and tried to replace the quick wit and verbal jostle of the TTBOOK crew with Slack and text threads. But I could feel something new and unpleasant taking root inside me. A heavy weight, lodged somewhere inside my rib cage. Low level, but constant. Draining. Everything became exhausting. Nothing was satisfying or rewarding or even particularly interesting.
Then one morning, scrolling through the daily trauma feed we call news, there was a headline – “That Discomfort You’re Feeling Is Grief” – and an interview in the Harvard Business Review with the noted grief expert David Kessler. Why did it make a difference, identifying that dull weight and constant tiredness as grief? How could a single word soften my body and ease my mind?
We’re harder on ourselves than we deserve, most of us. We flog ourselves to keep up, push harder, take everything in stride. But grief? Grief demands compassion. Sympathy. Kindness. Things we don’t easily offer ourselves. Grief gives us a chance – or an excuse – to slow down and forgive ourselves for being human.
I can’t promise that David Kessler’s thoughts will resonate for you as they did for me, but he has some wisdom to offer in this difficult time, as do our other guests this week. It’s a darker, more somber show than others we’ve produced recently. But there’s a deep comfort in it as well.
Thinking of you,
Anne