Prioritizing Joy in Dark Times
For more than two years we’d heard friends, colleagues and clients talk about how the pandemic had made it impossible to meet new people and had left them feeling isolated and uninspired. Typically we use our Make Believe Works activities to build and strengthen connections between teams and departments that already know each other. But this past autumn we wondered if - now that it was becoming safe to be in-person once again - our activities might also be useful for individuals who were struggling to connect and ready to make eye contact without wifi.
So, with the Delta variant on the wane and vaccines on the rise, we planned to welcome 2022 with an in-person afternoon workshop to help people replenish their creative spirits and rebuild their creative community. New year, new people, new inspiration to pursue new ideas and curiosities. Felt like a good plan.
But to paraphrase the old bumper sticker, “Humans Plan, God laughs.” Enter Omicron. So to keep everyone safe, we relinquished the new year piece of our offer and pushed our date back to February 26. As expected, Omicron rose and we waited and watched and wore our masks and got sick anyway. Finally the numbers started dropping as Omicron ebbed. Our plans were back on track. Cue laughter.
Two days before our event was finally going to happen we were gathering our pipe cleaners, googly eyes, poetry, and sharpies, when we heard the news. Russia had invaded Ukraine. Violence, cruelty, arrogance, and greed were unleashed on a scale Europe hadn’t seen since the last world war. Along with everyone else, we were staggered, scared, angry, frustrated, and heartsick. So many bleak adjectives.
We sat down and looked each other in the eyes and asked if we should cancel our event. The moment felt too heavy for the lightness of joy, play and creativity we were planning. But as we discussed it, we actually came to the opposite conclusion: that this was exactly the time for something like this. It’s the playfulness of creativity, the optimism of new connections, the lightness of joy that gives us the fuel we need to face the world when it heaps darkness like this down on us. We needed it during the pandemic. We need it for what’s happening now. We’ll need it for whatever comes next.
So we didn’t cancel. We figured some of our participants might, but they didn’t. They came. We skipped the name tags and introductions and got to know each other from the inside out. Remember as a kid how you’d encounter someone on the playground, go down the slide a bunch of times and eventually, maybe as an afterthought, ask them their name? That was what we wanted. Make connections as kindred spirits first and build from there. So we left aside our professions, titles, connections, history and led them through an afternoon of activities designed to help them see each other in the moment with kind and generous eyes. There were sharpies, and poems, and glue guns, and disco balls, and feathers, and dancing involved. For three hours our 16 strangers stepped out of their comfort zones, got silly, got vulnerable, and got to laugh. A lot.
In the days after our workshop we heard from our participants: “It made me feel open and expectant and big-hearted.” “This day was about breaking personal barriers, breaking weekend monotony, and unleashing positivity.” “I SO needed this to shake up my thinking and expectations.” “I actually didn’t realize how deeply I missed connecting with other people until now. I’m rusty, but it feels like life.”
Being around other people is not a cure for isolation. It’s not a guarantee of inspiration. But what we’ve found is that imagination and play can quickly pave that road of connection - even between total strangers; even when the world seems to be doing its best to divide us. It’s that kind of meaningful connection that truly reminds us that we’re not alone, and - perhaps more importantly - reminds others that they aren’t either.
Also, if YOU need a boost of lightness in this moment, we BEG you try the delightfully inspired Peptoc Hotline: 707-998-8410
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/06/1084800784/peptoc-hotline-kindergarteners