23. tender

It feels hard to focus or make anything worthwhile right now. Do you feel it too? In one of the latest episodes of Hurry Slowly, podcast host Jocelyn K. Glei guesses that most of us are depleted right now. Between all that’s happened this year, it would be unnatural if we weren’t—and yet we’re still expecting ourselves to be just as (if not more) productive and put together as we were pre-2020, despite having significantly less bandwidth. The answer, Glei suggests, is more tenderness towards ourselves and daily habits (how calm might life be if our inner critics’ constant chatter could become a little softer?). Maybe tenderness can be as simple tailoring your day to your circadian rhythm, or as tremendous as separating our productivity from our inherent worth (hi, it’s me). Anyway, take heart and chill out. It is in your self-interest to find a way to be very tender (J. Holzer).

(Nov. 5)