Anniversaries Can Be Hard
March 2021
March 13th will mark the one-year anniversary of the day I sent an email to all of you recommending that we not worship in person. After I sent that email, I took a shower and cried, knowing we were in for a very difficult year.
As we approach the one-year anniversary of those first pandemic lockdowns, you may find yourself feeling emotionally unsettled. In grief counseling, we often find that anniversaries can creep up on people. Sometimes we feel the anniversary in our body even before our mind remembers. We begin to feel anxious that something bad will happen. We might have bad dreams or trouble sleeping.
If you’re finding things suddenly harder than they were a month ago, if your body feels more sluggish or more anxious for no apparent reason, you are not alone. This is a common reaction to the anniversary of what was a traumatic event for many of us. This is your body remembering that when the sun was like this, and the trees were like this, the last time it was February, something terrible was brewing and your world was about to change dramatically. This is your body holding the accumulation of a year of losses. It’s your body remembering the trauma and shock you’d almost thought you’d forgotten.
Be easy on yourself right now. If things feel harder, it’s probably because they are. Breathe. Reach out for help if you need it.
If you’re not struggling, check on your friends and family. Reach out to your church members. They might need a shoulder right now. Let them tell you what they need (including being left alone), but remind them you’re here.
Be gentle with yourself. Be gentle with each other. Be gentle with your neighbors, and the people at the grocery store. Anniversaries can be hard, so we need you to bring the Peace of Christ to the world.
As always, thank you for being the church for this time and this place. This is going to be another difficult Lenten Season, so the world needs you to carry the Light as we wait once-again for the resurrection promise of Easter.
Blessings,
Tyler
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