dear blue dot friends

 hi blue dots. 

how are you? are you ok? are you taking time for you? are you avoiding the news? 

i know it's hard right now. i know that it feels like the upside down. like we are living in gilead. nothing makes sense. and the parts that do make sense are few and far between. it's hard to know what is real and what is a show for the news outlets to blow up. things seem to be moving so fast that it is hard to keep up. 

here's what i want you to think about: while this is a ridiculously scary time, you have to think about what is in your control. the only thing in your control as of the moment is you, and how you respond to this litany of insanity. do you soak up every news story, every tiktok, every facebook post? do you let that consume you? do you pick and choose what is worth reading or watching? i know that has become my strategy. 

i told troy recently that i don't want the cheeto circus master to become our only topic of conversation. i don't want to post on fb to vent my frustration. what good does that do? you're really just perpetuating the stress in your life over this little man who has nothing to show for his first two weeks except chaos. it doesn't deserve our attention. every time someone comes to me with a "can you believe?????" statement i take a deep breath and remind them that this is temporary. this level of chaos isn't sustainable for cheeto man or anyone else for that matter. it will calm down. 

so now what? little blue dots, we are a team. we have to support each other, sure. but do we need to overdo the news cycle? do we need to know every insane thing done on capitol hill? nope. we don't. 

here's what we do need: the sparkles, the glimmers, the hope. we celebrate each other. we raise up our marginalized communities. we throw our discretionary funds to queer and black makers. we consume their online content. 

i find myself forever looking for the good. sometimes it shows itself to me, sometimes i set forth to look for it. the past few mornings, it's been sunrises. what's not to love about cotton candy skies? i refuse to spend my time being outraged at every story. instead, i put that energy into finding the good. the kid with the glittery nails. the lady at the walmarts with the fancy hair. the dad-spotting at home depot. all the birds. all the dancing. 

the negativity that always surrounds us will always be there. the degree to which you let that get to you is totally up to you. my advice to all my blue dot friends is this: limit your media consumption. you can be as mad as you want to be about our current situation, but at the end of the day, mad doesn't solve any problems, it just eats away at you. and we, little blue dot friends, we are the epitome of hope. remember that was all 2008 was about. we need to band together in positivity and hope. at the end of the day, that will be what binds us, friends. 

go forth and find some glimmers my loves. then tell me all about it. 

love you, mean it.