It’s the end of the work day and my energy is drained. I talk to many people in one day. At the end of my shift, all I want to do is lay in bed and think about nothing, say nothing, and do nothing. When I try to obtain peace, my thoughts start racing. You see, I like knowing what is going on in the world, even if it’s not good. Two out of the four grey hairs on my head probably grew because of my obsession with watching the news. I start thinking about the people of Afghanistan, the people from Haiti, the Delta variant and how quickly it is spreading. I think about these things every day. None of this is normal and it does not make sense to me that we all continue to work and are expected to be productive during these uncertain times. It’s just not normal.

I also feel that there is major gaslighting happening here. Did we not recently have a president that incited violence and encouraged white supremacist to terrorize people of color? Did we not have a president that sexually harasses womxn? Did we not have a president that encouraged a capitol riot? Where is he and why is he not being held accountable? Why aren’t we talking about the trauma that this nation has inflicted on its people. What about the trauma that the youth has experienced? We are collectively hurting and even though many people, myself included, have individually worked on their own personal traumas, we are not addressing the collective trauma that we are expected to carry while we are pressured to be productive.

Trauma gets passed down. It is a proven fact. How are we all going to get through this?

Angelica Flores