“The COVID Episode”: Trauma, Women’s Equality, Race, and more
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I’m calling this week’s podcast episode my “COVID podcast” because I’m recording it while I have COVID, talking to my girls about their experiences living through quarantine, and having a spicy conversation with my friend Lindsey Chevalier on all things quarantine, COVID, gender issues, women’s equality, and more.
HOW HAVE OUR LIVES BEEN IMPACTED BY THE PANDEMIC?
The conversations in this episode were prompted by a tweet shared by Physiologyfirst that reads:
“Kids are resilient” is one of the most B.S. lines to come out of the pandemic.
If kids are so resilient, why do we have a generation of adults still talking about childhood trauma?
Kids are vulnerable. Their mental health is just the easiest to ignore.”
As you will hear in the discussion with my girls, things have changed so much for them since the beginning of the lockdowns just over a year ago. The restrictions/guidelines regarding schools have looked different for everyone across the country (and the world), but I think it’s important to talk to the kids in your life about how it has impacted them.
Lindsey and I talk from our mom perspective about the emotional toll this has taken on us, our families, and everyone around us. The fact that we have no say and no control over what is happening has made us both frustrated. But we also spend some time talking about how to cope with those feelings, including “Disciplining Your Disappointment” and the things we’ve gained this past year.
Disciplining Your Disappointment:
- Take a moment to grieve the disappointment. Just sit in it and reflect.
- Walk it out — move away from the space where you grieved.
- Share the experience and seek counsel.
We also acknowledge everything we’ve had to give up as moms, as women, and the things we’ve had to change in our daily lives in order to be the rock for our families. Women have gone through a lot during this time!
How to work through the trauma from the past year:
- Journal: helps shift your mind to focus on gratitude, not just what you’ve lost
- Ask yourself where you can find healing right now
- Going for walks
- Ask yourself how you’re feeling/how others in your family are feeling
- Hold space for your feelings and work through them instead of zooming forward
- Talk it out: discussing your feelings and working things out verbally is sometimes all you need! It also helps build community when you are open and honest about your feelings.
WOMEN SUPPORTING WOMEN
Have you seen the latest Rachel Hollis controversy? Cringey, right? That’s what we thought too — and not that there isn’t reason for all of the outrage, but Linsdsey and I’s perspectives on this have actually evolved quite a bit. Now, instead of being angry at the content, we’re disappointed in the outrage. She made a mistake, she apologized for it, but she continues to be raked over the coals.
When given a seat at the table, a lot of what women say is well thought out because we assume we will be criticized and our words will be scrutinized much more than a male voice. But we don’t allow women to stumble and make mistakes and grant them grace at all. For all of the preaching done about “sisterhood” and “tribes” this is the perfect example of how bad things can get when you don’t have people in your corner.
SO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT RACE?
We are living in very challenging times, and I think there is unspeakable racism that exists that we have not had a conversation around. I know as a white woman living in a place where the population is 99% white, my reality is very, very small, but this past year I’ve tried to do more to educate myself on racism in America and what I can do to be a part of the solution.
Can we just sit in the moments we can’t understand and support Black people in our country? Can we hold space for them to share their experiences?
And how can we make space at the table for minorities so that the decisions being made at the table are not being made by people who cannot relate to them?
WOW, we covered a lot in this episode, and we want to know what you think! Where did you agree with us? Where did you disagree? What do you want to add to these conversations? Send me an email or slide into my DMs (@balanced_entrepreneur) and let me know!
