It occurred to me that my generally somber tone on these pages is probably not healthy for me or anyone reading, if anyone is in fact reading at all. That’s a hard call. Someone may be, or not. The tenor isn’t really reflective of my overall mood on a day to day, and it never really has been. Any day is filled with a range of emotions from high to low and everything in between. The catharsis of pouring out the dark makes room for the light, and so on. Things are okay.

These are good times for those ready, willing and able to reflect and then make room for growth. I should probably be reaching out to more people also and will begin to do so. Loneliness is definitely a factor in navigating the lockdown and there is no immunity here. The last several evenings have been somewhat rough. Thank the stars for Netflix and technology. I have made a vow though to double down on gratitude disciplines and finding (and sharing) positivity. You’re either part of the solution or you are part of the problem. Who hasn’t heard that before? The more apt question would be, where do you stand on that? The answer is clear for me. I need to be doing more. The times call for it.

It’s not that I’m really that big a cunt. I was just sort of drawn this way. It’s hard for me to approach positivity without a degree of embarrassment manifesting usually in sarcasm and dark humor. That’s really the cheap out on being afraid to put myself out there. Even turning this space into a pandemic diary is a cheap way out, but I do want to keep record of anything that is potentially life-changing. This is nothing, if not potentially life-changing. The odds, whatever they may be, are very uncertain and the fact that it could all be life-ending shouldn’t be entirely ignored. Simply out of respect to the people who have already died, who are already sick, and who are taking serious risks to fight it, the serious nature of what’s going on shouldn’t be ignored. It wouldn’t be fair. I’ll take a knee out of respect to all those people. Cheers, guys. Maybe we’ll meet on the the other side, whatever that other side might be.

Many people I’ve witnessed really are rising to present positives in these times that can seem overwhelmingly negative. It’s easy to stick with the dark humor of the memes but if that’s the only response then it’s pretty lame.

Shout out here to John Krasinski of the US verion of The Office for his Youtube launch of SGN: Some Good News, a network dedicated to… can you guess? Some good news….

I don’t know that I’m going to be spreading this stuff on a daily basis. One has to be true to one’s own self at the end of the day and Shiny Happy People isn’t my tribe, but hey, why not? Go John! Well done! I hope this continues and that SGN remains up in the digital world as a testament to people putting their best faces on in hard times.

Finally, to the people I do love and miss very much, I do apologize if at times I’ve taken you for granted. I can do better. Actions do speak louder than words, so…