I called my son yesterday. His wife is still working outside the home and he’s trying to figure out how to work from home, while homeschooling a daughter and trying to keep his son from tearing pictures off the wall. What I really heard was an overwhelming tiredness. I’m hearing and sensing the same thing with others. They are simply tired.

Many of our work places aren’t as efficient right now. And they are not going to be for a while.

I’m old and have worked a long time. I say that because I’ve been through some stuff. I’ve been through downturns, layoffs, and reorganizations that left empty chairs. But this time is truly unprecedented.  We can’t work together. We are hanging out in our basements or spare rooms and our communication is more difficult. I’ve certainly never been part of a time when getting together could actually cause harm to another person.

In the midst, we have people who are trying to be good employees and parents and spouses and friends and homeschool teachers and cooks and referees, basically doing all this alone. Eveyone’s trying to figure it out and we are tired.

With this crisis, there is no definite end. We don’t know the magnitude or length. The likelihood that some of our family or friends will get sick, grows every day. Many will be impacted by job loss. I talked to my daughter in law in California, who has been moved to 30 hours a week and her company has laid off 45% of their staff. My son in California came back from the grocery store with a unfilled shopping list. Not only toilet paper, there’s almost nothing on the shelves.

Our loved ones and friends have stuff going on and, in many cases, we don’t know what they are going through behind the scenes of their lives. I think we need to take a step back and focus on care. And ask these questions:

How are we caring for ourselves, our families, our friends, and our neighbors?

Who will you connect with today, just to say hello and how goes the battle?

How can I connect with my existing groups electronically? Ask someone about Zoom or Skype or Google Hangouts – we need to see each other when we talk to each other.

Who are the most vulnerable and what are the organizations that can help?

What time is our nap?