Are You OK?

It's been a month - only a month, but then again only a month. It feels like longer some days, OK, it feels like longer most days. And it's hard, it's really, really hard.

I start almost every meeting I have (Zoom, Google Hangout, FaceTime) by asking how people are doing. Most say that they're OK and then share a caveat or two. "Yeah, I'm OK but... it's really hard for my daughter. She misses her friends." "Sure, we're OK but... my husband is having a hard time." "Yep, I'm OK but... it was really eerie going to the grocery store."

It's OK not to be OK. And it's important to tell our students, our own children, our faculty, staff, family, and friends, that it's OK to not be OK. Because here's the truth, this doesn't feel OK. I saw this post this week from the Fred Rogers Center on Twitter (@FredRogersCtr):

I believe we can cross out the word children, and replace it with human beings because this is applicable to everyone who is alive in 2020. Our world is topsy-turvy, at best. In many ways, it's scary because we are not doing anything the way we used to. This impacts children. This impacts adults. This impacts human beings.

In this country, we continue to struggle to put a name on mental health. While we have made strides in this regard, there is still a stigma. I strive to create a world where people can share their depression, with the same ease that we share that we have a headache. I long for a day when we know mental health can be treated with medicine, the same way a headache needs Tylenol or Advil. I hope for a day when we can embrace the reality of our mental health with the same ease as we embrace our physical health.

We speak of all the opportunities we have in the face of this pandemic, ways to better our world when we start to further ease restrictions. I firmly believe this is another one. We can do better by modeling our own reality.

Go ahead. Admit it. You're not OK.

I know you're not OK because I'm not OK either.

And that's OK.

Photo courtesy of www.redbubble.com