anxiety undermines our surety

 Holding up?

“How are you holding up?”

is what comes to me these days, 

instead of

“How are you doing?”

a more loaded question,

more open-ended,

more difficult to figure out 

what level of answer it calls for,

this pandemic world is a disturbance in the Force,

a recasting of the lots Fate throws for us to deal with,

winds batter at the structures of our surety,

and how do we hold up in this tumult, in this uncertainty?

what holds true and what breaks down?

anxiety slips between the stones of our making,

and what should feel solid suddenly feels shaky,

our students, their parents, our staff

complain of tiredness,

for our souls are exhausted

from the shifting footing upon which we walk,

from the assault of having to learn new technologies,

new ways to work,

while avoidance pulls hard at us,

while what needs to be done seems to double and redouble,

I even feel good about others making a mistake,

because it feels like less pressure on me to get it all right,

How am I holding up?

How are you holding up?

by Henry H. Walker

February 19, ‘21