Lessons in hope, and an opportunity to learn more about the Blueprint
As we share the newly updated Aging Well Whatcom Blueprint, we’re reflecting on all that has changed since we released the original edition in the fall of 2019. Not a single one of us has been left untouched by the effects of the pandemic, and our older adults have been especially impacted – with stricter lockdowns in a time where the inability to connect with family and friends is absolute agony, with unprecedented challenges to accessing services and care, and of course, with significantly higher risks and consequences of catching Covid-19.
Some of you may have seen the diagram below in the past few years – it’s based on the psychology of disasters and how community moves through them together. We’ve found it to be a good reminder of the importance of rising above the day-to-day to take stock, holistically, of where we are mentally and emotionally.
Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
There are three main takeaways of working with this framework that we’d like to share with you:
Seize the opportunity to build a new normal.
At the beginning of the pandemic, we heard a lot about “getting back to normal” – and although the desire for familiarity is understandable, we also know that the old “normal” wasn’t working for everybody. In rushing to return to the previous status quo, we worry about losing this moment of opportunity to build a new normal. In this period of reconstruction, we’re reminding ourselves and our community to be a partner. To be a builder. To be curious, with fewer preconceived notions and less judgment. There are so many things that we take for granted or think we know with certainty, and the last few years have taught us that don’t, and can’t, know it all. It’s time to be even more open-hearted and willing to make human connections, and to roll up our sleeves and dig into the work. It’s said that we have 30 armchair quarterbacks to every 1 dreamer and doer. We don’t need more armchair quarterbacks – we need people who say, “how can I help?”
Hold on to the lessons.
We can come out of this pandemic with really amazing reptile brains focused on our own survival, or we can come out with a deep understanding of interconnectedness, interdependence, and our responsibility to each other – and with new ideals and values about how we build community, belonging, and connection into the DNA of our systems and services. Know that you, your thoughts and your actions, matter to our community. Down to the text message you send your friend or the article you choose to post on social media, every interaction matters. Because it is in those connections that we build the community we want to see – one where every child gets a healthy start, every person receives the care they need throughout their lifetime, we can all truly age well and vibrantly, and everyone has the opportunity to live, thrive, and belong for who we are, as we are, without fear… every day.
Take heart.
Don’t lose hope. We are here at the exact right time. Hope, meaning, and purpose are essential to hold onto for any of us to age well – and honestly, for the future of our humanity. In the words of Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés in her “Letter to a Young Activist During Troubled Times,”
“Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.”
We hope that by exploring the Aging Well Whatcom Blueprint, you learn something new and build new connections. And that some beautiful seeds, of belonging and community, are planted – because if you have it in your heart that something should be done, or think, “wouldn’t it be great if…”, we challenge you to take the next step to make it happen. If not us, who? And if not now, when?
We invite you to join us online on July 14th to learn more about the information contained in the Blueprint and how we, as a community, can implement the proposed strategies to make Whatcom County a place with the culture, physical infrastructure, social supports, and services for all of us to age well. It will take many hands, but we know that together, we can make this vision a reality.