For many, 2020 has been a year of 1000 paper cuts. Rather than one big event resulting in a dramatic case of spontaneous combustion it has been the one thousand paper cuts shredding our optimism, cutting away at our self-efficacy, and dicing our energy into exhaustion.

Rather than wallpapering our mind with premature resilience, I believe it is time to take stock. I believe the way out of something is through it — so if you feel burnt out I encourage you to stop, or at least pause, notice your wounds, and declare: “owie, owie, owie.”

I believe our wounds transformed can become our gifts to our community but let’s not rush it with images or being resilient rubber balls that just keep bouncing or Energizer bunnies mindlessly marching forward while pounding our drums to drown out pain.

It is okay to not be okay, Just because you start there doesn’t mean you stay there. You can move forward but sometimes we need to sway backwards a little bit to generate authentic movement and momentum.

Remember Scott Peck’s opening 3 words in The Road Less Traveled: “Life is difficult.”