When I last offered my daily reflections, the world was wobbling. We were in the middle of a pandemic lockdown, wondering when our schools, businesses, churches, and synagogues would resume business as usual. We were learning to use phrases like “social distancing,” and “flatten the curve.” We tied bandannas over our mouths, the market having not yet been saturated by the cottage industry mask makers.

I was in the middle of my own personal purgatory, too. After over two years of waiting to be confirmed into a faith that’s been chasing me since childhood, all services were canceled. Live-streaming became the medium for the mass, for church services, for evening prayers. Faith had officially entered the digital age, ready or not.

America was a powder keg. Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor had been gunned down, though no arrests had been made, no charges brought. George Floyd was still breathing. White America was, on par, unaware. Black America was crying for justice.

The world was wobbling when I put the pen down, but in the six-week interim, it’s fallen off its axis. Watching the news, reading social media, talking with mental health professionals, I’m left wondering: Have we crossed some Rubicon? Yes. There is something like despair creeping in.

This weekend, I posted a poll on both Twitter and Instagram, and between the two platforms, well over 200 people responded. The poll?

The numbers for Instagram were similar. And before you dismiss it as anecdotal evidence, before you believe it to be the results of a skewed demographic, consider this from the The Philadelphia Inquirer:

In a report released in May by Well Being Trust, a national foundation focused on mental wellness, and the Robert Graham Center, an independent research unit associated with the American Academy of Family Physicians, researchers predicted that additional deaths of despair in the next decade could range from just under 28,000 to over 154,000, depending on the speed of economic recovery.

We are on the verge of a mental health crisis, which is why I’m coming back to the page. I do not have the solutions, and like most of you, I don’t know where we go from here. Still, I’m committed to exploring solutions. What’s more, I’m committed to exploring angles of light, the way it still comes in the morning, begging beauty. In the days to come, I’ll explore that light. Will you commit to exploring with me?

We’re in a wonky world. We all feel it. Let’s not give in to the despair of it all. Instead, let’s walk into it sober-minded, awake to the possibility of sharing beauty, peace, and the Divine Love with a world off its axis.

A Tool for Getting Your World Back on its Axis

THE BOOK OF WAKING UP —a book on addiction, attachment, and the Divine Love—is available now! So, order a copy or ten at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookish (my favorite indie bookseller). Then, forward this post to a friend and ask them to read along.