Freezing and the Paradox of Self-Protection

“If you are sad, take action.” — old Klingon proverb

That’s about it.

Find one thing that bothers you, and take an action. Even if the only action you can find is naming it. Talk about it until you can name it with a single phrase. Then … you’’ll have come to terms with it, and expressed it, and probably identified a solution along the way. Just by finding the right name for the problem.

Find one thing that feels good, and revel in it. A single wildflower, a shower. (But not five showers in a day. Instead of taking that fifth shower, go for a walk. Go for a walk in the rain, even.

Sometimes, after the worst imaginable has swept through our lives like forest fire, it can be hard to move on. It can be hard to get up. It can be hard to imagine that anything could possibly make any difference.

But

It can.’

You can.

If you are sad, take action.

If you are numb — move.

If you can’t tell, you are.

That’s it.