Hey, Reader.

You deserve joy. You know that, right?

It's something I'm having to repeat to myself and others so often right now. Because OMG THE WORLD?!?!?!

Like last week, I was talking to a friend who recently went on vacation to Disneyland with her daughter. While she was telling me about the lovely time she had and her passion for log flumes (yessss!!!), she kept interrupting her story to express guilt at experiencing pleasure while the current crap administration made the decision to bomb Iran.

And this made me remember that I was on my first ever cruise (and best vacation ever!!!) in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean when the tsunami hit Japan in 2011, now known as the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster.

It was galling to watch the news coverage of the disaster on the other side of the planet while I WAS ON A BOAT IN THE OCEAN and sipping cocktails in my stateroom. It felt weird and kinda gross and I felt so. much. guilt.

But, Reader, neither my friend nor myself are the kind of people who go on lavish vacations. Hell, neither of us go on vacation very much, if at all, because of resources and the realities of disability. Yet, both of us were feeling guilt and apologizing for experiencing joy because it happened to coincide with tragedy.

The sad truth is that if you wait to have joy until everyone is happy and cared for, my dear, you will never ever, ever get to have joy.

And like I said up top, you deserve to have joy. (And go on vacation).

But I know that it's near impossible to even reconcile worrying about something as simple as running out of jam for your kid's breakfast tomorrow and planning a run to the grocery store while your country is committing acts of war against another country and kids over there are fearing for their lives.

And the cognitive dissonance that we experience in these moments, the brain **literally** struggling to hold both these things as true at one time, can cause us to check out, hide away, and/or stay completely stuck in the loop of worry --> panic --> explode/freeze caused by our deep caring and want to do something meeting the reality of the bigness and horribleness of all of it versus the need to keep our lives moving.

In my own life, I have found that the way off that cycle of insanity is literally to DO SOMETHING. You probably already know that and are maybe still feeling guilty and stuck.

So if your guilt is in the way of your ability to figure out your next action (because: SAME), you should check out this little guide I created for you: The World is on Fire... How can I help?​

This Resource and Action Guide is full of 10 ideas that can help you choose what the next, most correct, doable action is for you. I've even filled it with little pep talks that can ease the overwhelm and indecision that might come up when you read it. Oh, and it's totally free for you today.

Little things can make big differences AND we still get vacations and joy, because that's how we can keep moving forward.

In love, liberation, and solidarity,

​

Sent with big fat love from a messy desk and a neurodivergent mind.

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