MANDATES & MORALS
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO. By Angeli Marie Shaw
As 2021 comes to an end, 2020 may feel like a distant memory, but for many, both years have been a continuous blur of navigating the unknown, juggling feelings of uncertainty, coping with continuous restrictions and lockdown, and digging deep for a resilience and strength that we never knew we had. For me personally, I’ve had to overcome so many things that I never ever fathomed I’d have to deal with, let alone during a global pandemic, and although I can somewhat pat myself on the back for making it this far, the truth is, I’m exhausted. I’m exhausted by strength. I’m worn down with holding a prolonged sense of resilience, not knowing when I can just let go and be. I long for support. I want softness and I want ease. I no longer want to be patted on the back for how well I take a hit, or how many I take. I just want the hits to stop. For the first time ever, I dream of never being called resilient again in life, because in my mind, life just isn’t meant to be lived like this. Now, in case you’re wondering, no, I haven’t given up. Far from it, however after working this whole time at home on a laptop with very little physical interaction, I’ve decided that now is as good a time as any to allow myself to just be, and whilst I run a killer zoom meeting with all the mojo and motivation, behind the scenes I have allowed myself to soften, whether it be letting the tears flow unrestricted, sitting in my pj’s all day with an unwashed face and hair 96
Hair Biz Year 15 Issue 6
(ok, I’ll be honest, the shower is totally skipped) or a taking myself offline to remain present in my own world. Sure, the world is beginning to open up, with restrictions beginning to ease, and many have been able to celebrate ‘freedom’, however the topic remains, what is going to happen moving forward? And what do you do if you’re torn between what you think is right, and what you’re told is right? Now before I go further, I want to emphasise that I am not trying to initiate a debate. We all know that there is so much grey to what is happening across Australia. In fact, some of you may say it’s not grey at all, it’s black and white. Regardless on your viewpoint, there are so many that are simply torn, and for those, we need to hold space. Now I could discuss all the things we can’t do, even go into the mandates and their complexities set across each state, but I won’t. What I will do though is discuss what we CAN do, and although some of these may seem minor in comparison to the bigger picture, as the saying goes ‘a journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step’. Here’s some steps you can take…
1. CONNECT WITH COMPASSION.
To live a compassionate life, requires both softness and strength. We can all claim to have a strong backbone, but this should be complimented and balanced out with a soft front. After all, our very existence is filled with opposites; light and dark, joy and pain, ying and yang. It’s safe to say that challenges in life are inevitable, but to what degree we suffer from them is up to you. Compassion involves acknowledging that all lives are just as important, sacred and of value, just like your own. Think of compassion as a motivational state, and this motivation could take the form of action, such as stepping in and helping, or simply offering kindness. Celebrating imperfection is also a form of compassion and by accepting that we all will never share the same feelings or point of view, allows us to accept our own imperfections, and in turn allows our softness and strength to show through. Note that with this compassion comes setting boundaries, but I’ll go into more detail about that further down.
