I was hoping to restart our discussions immediately after the high holiday season, after taking an initial summer break was motivated by practicing my own advice of limiting the multitasking and late nights, and not feeding the unspoken pressures of needing to “get it all done”.
But never in any of our wildest nightmares did we expect to wake up those last days of Sukkot, and find before us the sickening massacre of our people in Israel. And so, a necessary and immediate transition took place. We all mobilized from shock and horror, to rolling up our sleeves and doing as much as we can, in support. And as we continue these daily efforts, we also move from living with acute stress to living with an underlayer of chronic stress. Acute stress is what we experienced in those first days after learning of the horrors. Feelings of nauseating pain, anxiety, irritability, and difficulty concentrating on our tasks at hand. Some coped by avoiding learning of the gruesome details that occurred, while others found themselves emotionally drawn into watching and reading those details. And for the vast majority, there were feelings of disconnect in experiencing positive emotions, and in partaking fully in celebratory events.