Stand Up
MEDICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH UPDATE
While today is the last day of Mental Health Awareness month, it’s only just the beginning.
I’ve done enough therapy over the course of my life to know that we’re never done. At least I’m not.
And even though I pretty well know my own strengths, weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and blind spots, it’s ongoing work that continues today.
So while today I’d like to rest and relax, it’s simply not possible. What we have seen over the past week across our country has shaken me like it has so many others. And it’s compelled me to read, write and figure out how the hell to help.
Many of my patients, friends, and family have been calling me this week with two main questions, and I’d like to address both here:
What does DC Mayor Bowser’s lifting of the stay-at-home order on Friday really mean?
How can I use my white privilege for good?
First I’d like to clarify what DC’s new law as of Friday means—and what it doesn’t mean.
It does NOT mean we are “free.” It does NOT mean we are “done.”
From a medical standpoint, we shouldn’t be reopening at all. We are still in a pandemic. The virus is surging and has still yet to peak here in DC. It is claiming more and more lives every day. The risks of COVID-19 have not changed just because the law has.
What Bowser’s ruling DOES mean is that keeping much of the economy closed is no longer politically tenable.
It does mean that the economic, social, and emotional damage of lockdown has taken an enormous toll—particularly on our most vulnerable citizens.
It does mean that people are risking their lives to be back at work. Many don’t have the luxury of working from home or not working at all. Many don’t have choices like others of us do. And in fact, people have been risking their lives all along in providing for others—from doctors and nurses to postal workers and grocery store clerks.
And it does mean we are trying to salvage the lives of people who have lost work, paychecks, and their ability to provide for their families. This on top of preexisting anxiety, fear, and suffering.
It means we still need to consider our own risks and our risks to others. And to make decisions carefully and thoughtfully.
With respect to white privilege, this moment reminds us that we need to acknowledge it, talk about it, and not stand in silence. We need to remember that our actions and inactions directly affect others—not just now, but always.
So yes, let’s use white privilege for good. Our tears, sorrow, and re-posting of memes are not enough. Let’s use it to vote, speak up, and stand up for racial justice. Let’s use it to have hard conversations with ourselves, with our friends and families, and within our communities. Let’s use it to listen to our non-white friends and co-workers, to hear what they are saying, and to elevate their voices and their roles in our lives. Let’s use it to follow their lead.
We are not free from the pandemic, and we are not done with our work.
In fact, we’ll never be free and we’ll never be done until we recognize exactly where we are at this moment in time.
For me, self-awareness has always been about looking in the mirror, facing uncomfortable truths, and asking hard questions. It’s about sharpening my mind, knowing what I stand for, and recognizing what I need and what I cannot tolerate from others.
I’m not perfect at it. I am still learning, just like you.
So I urge you today to familiarize yourself with the facts—about the virus and about your own blind spots. Know how you play a role in helping and hurting others, even if unintended. Be honest with yourself. Get curious about yourself and others. Ask questions. Ask the hard ones, too. Know your truth. Listen to others whose realities are clearly different from your own. And know that we are capable of individual growth and change.
It’s going to take hard work—and working together—to help heal our collective bodies and minds.
P.S. Please join me and my colleague Dr. Clay Ackerly tomorrow night at 8 pm for a Q & A about COVID-19 on Facebook Live. The response to our first event was so positive that we hope you will join us again. To submit questions in advance, click HERE. And please note we will record the conversation and send out the link later in the week.