A Meditation on Multitudes

I was stressing out about writing a careful and nuanced post about words having boundaries, and the ethics of label policing, and power dynamics and harm, and determining valid harm from manufactured harm - when I decided to chill instead.

So, let's chill.

[Image: a cloud and blue sky]

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Feel where your body touches the surfaces that support it. If you're comfortable doing so, close your eyes. You might not be able read with your eyes closed. If so, don't close your eyes.  

Hear the sound of the rain. Hear it splatter and ping on different surfaces. Hear it trickle over the curb and merge into a tiny stream. Smell the wet asphalt. Shiver as the rain pulls the temperature down a few degrees.

Hear the thunder rumble overhead. Count and hold your breath. One one thousand, two one thousand, three. See the lightning flash in the distance. 

Look up and see thin metal ribbing branching out under a purple nylon canopy. 

[Image: a purple umbrella, a grey sky, a cloud]

You are under an umbrella. You are not alone. 

There are people like you and people not like you under the umbrella. There are people you know and people you don't. Some are happy or bored or grumpy. Some have harsh hushed for each other, and this stresses you out a little or a lot, but you take a deep breathe in, and out. You let the patter of the rain hitting the umbrella drown it out.  

You are safe and together under the umbrella. There are aces who stand back a bit because they don't want to bump into people. There are aces asking if they can hug you to stay warm. There are aces who will go home to Netflix and chill when the storm passes, and none mean the exact same thing by "chill". 

This is all normal for group of people sharing an umbrella. They are ace. You are ace. The people around you, everyone under the umbrella is ace. You have people around you who don't like being rained on either. People who will listen, and who ask you to listen to them. 

[Image: Silhouttes of people in shades of grey and purple under a purple umbrella. Two are hugging.]

You might mess up at times. Step on peoples toes, or push back a little too hard when someone steps on your toes. The umbrella gets jostled. But it's okay. You learn where to put your feet. The umbrella is still upright. There are many hands holding it up. 

Not everyone under the umbrella will be happy with each other all the time, and that's okay. You can't solve all the problems of everyone under the umbrella, and that's okay. All you need to do right now is sit under this umbrella and listen to the rain. 

And as you return to your present, where, maybe it is raining and maybe it isn't, remember that it is okay to just be.

[Image: one purple silhouette of a person standing under a purple umbrella with empty space next to them]