One of the oddest realities of modern life is that we can be here (wherever that is) while simultaneously being there (wherever that is).
You can be nearing midnight in your home time zone, succumbing to that gauzy feeling of impending sleep, and be transported to tomorrow in another time zone where a hurricane/assassination/missile strike is wreaking havoc upon innocents in high-def.
We’re safely in our own beds, but also in a war-torn country. Even though our logical mind knows we’re not in imminent danger, our amygdala is in full code red.
The juxtaposition is especially jarring when the two things pull opposite ends of the same emotion. Such was a recent day when the news from the Cannes Lions awards in France bubbled up almost exactly as news of the reversal of Roe v. Wade hit airwaves in the U.S.
There were my friends — Liz Taylor, Xanthe Wells, Judy John, Susan Credle — celebrating the biggest creative triumphs of their lives. WOMEN LEADING! Hoisting the hardware. Celebrating in jubilant huddles with their teams.
Yet at that exact moment, groups of women were huddling for very different reasons a few thousand miles to the West. The cognitive dissonance of the same moment telling us “YOU CAN ACHIEVE ANYTHING!” and “you’re not even in charge of your own body” is the ultimate mind fuck.
Living through the unthinkable.
There’s no playbook for “what to do when people decide you’re not a person anymore.” Yesterday you were, but today not so much.
In parenting, there’s a saying that a mother is only as happy as her least happy child. The analogous work phrase is: a leader is only as happy as her least oppressed employee. We have seen so much injustice these last few years — leaving employees vulnerable to disease, gun violence and hate crimes. Now we are seeing reversals of rights: rights once protected at the highest level being undone with the stroke of a pen.
How can leaders offer any kind of reassurance in a world where basic human rights aren’t protected? They can’t. And leaders aren’t immune from the personal shock and dismay of these moments. We’re all in this miserable boat together.
What did I do? I closed my eyes.
Then I opened my eyes and sprung into action. I delivered an Instagram Live interview with Dr. Sophia Yen, founder and CEO of Pandia Health, a virtual healthcare and prescription birth control service that is leading the forefront of our fight for justice and control over our bodies.
Dr. Yen and I answered questions like:
What can my company do above and beyond creating funds for abortion travel costs?
What online resources can I trust for up-to-the-minute realities of each state’s laws?
Do I really need to delete my period tracking app?
Which emergency contraception method does not work for 60% of the population?
How do I advise my young adult daughter about her choices? What about my sons?
I was glad to see lots of people tuning in, including many men. You can watch the interview here.
I wish I had a solid closure to this post — some kind of advice about how to handle the mental whiplash of a world where moments of joy are almost always overshadowed by hideousness unfolding elsewhere.
Yet all I can offer is my hunch that our joy needs to not be diluted in moments like this, but doubled. Our ultimate act of resistance against the patriarchy, white supremacy and late-stage capitalism? Rest. Play. Cook. Laugh. Take whatever pleasures offer themselves to you, including taking the dog an extra lap on your evening walk.
Until next time, remember that culture is the new creativity.