in the pause

I was supposed to be writing today, but this morning’s news from the Supreme Court completely turned me around. I ended up not writing a thing. I’m not sure what the actual word is for the emotion I’ve been experiencing all day is, but I feel like it’s best encapsulated in sculptor Luciano Garbati’s famous work, Medusa.

Yeah, it hasn’t been pretty.

I haven’t known what to do, and so I’ve been a bit paralyzed. But then I remembered a Viktor Frankl quote that my friend Brené shared with me: between stimulus and response, there is a space, and in that space is our power to choose our response. It occurs to me that maybe my inability to know next moves is a signal that I’m in the space. That maybe I’m supposed to sit here for a while — in the ebb — feel what I feel, and then figure out what’s next.

I share this in case you’re feeling a little stymied today as well. Take all the time you need. Because there’s work to be done.

And when you’re ready to work, remember rage is not your fuel. You fuel is your tenacity. Your skills. Your gifts.

But rage is your spark.