Take a Day Off

I took yesterday off.

It was the ten-year anniversary of my daughter Mercy’s death. And I knew that I wouldn’t be present for a meeting or a training or a sales call.

A decade of growth has taught me to make space for my grief. Make space in my body. Make space in my schedule. What I resist, persists.

So I took a long walk in the woods, breathing in the late-winter thaw. I had lunch with my partner. My mom brought me a chai latte and I played cards with the children. I went to bed early.

We need to talk about these types of days. Because capitalist America has sold us a lie: the lie that we are units of production. So we mask our hard days and plaster on a smile, pretending that we are OK when we are shredded inside.

Next year, I am going to put an automatic reply on my e-mail signature for the week of February 15-22. It will go something like this…

“Eleven years ago, my daughter Mercy lived and died during this week. I am honoring the space of her memory as well as my grief, which means that I will be slower to respond to calls or emails.”

Anyone else need to make this sort of purposeful space in your life? Does your organization allow for this kind of sharing?