Chasing the sunset

On my evening flight from San Antonio back to San Diego, I found myself entranced by a seemingly endless warm color palette out my window as our plane chased the sunset. What a strange concept to gain time, to get a little something back in the time-space continuum, especially when life can easily can feel like an hourglass spending the grains of sand away. That image feels even more real at a time of so much loss and grieving - from the atrocities in Gaza and other war-torn countries to the natural disasters in the setting of climate change to the assault on science and evidence-based medicine to the threat of the basic human rights of women, immigrants, racial and ethnic minorities, and the transgender/gender-diverse community…

There is so much fear and uncertainty and so much at stake. 

It’s dizzying because there’s so much wrong right now, it’s hard to know where to turn. So maybe that’s why I clung to the practically infinite sunset - a bit of something beautiful and surreal at a time when things feel pretty ugly and unreal. 

Maybe that’s why I leaned even more into my MedEd conference this weekend, hugging kindred family docs who inspire and amaze me at the impact they make on their communities. And why I clamored together for community and resonated even more deeply with folx committed to gender health while beaming about the power of gender affirming primary care at the Transgender Healthcare Symposium.

I'm trying to breathe in as much self-compassion as I can these days as I send loving-kindness vibes to so many hurting. Staying connected to my people and leaning on my villages has been essential to keep me grounded at a time of such insanity. I still hold on to hope that maybe enough change makers can assemble to face the injustice unfolding in so many ways. Sarah McBride shared her hope that as we face the challenges of this new administration, that we see it as a potential slingshot moment:

"yes, we are pulled backward, but the pressure and tension of being pulled backwards ultimately propels us to destinations that we've never been before."

Time and again, I have felt the power of fierce optimism to be the essential fuel for resilience and commitment to advocate for what's important. So while we maybe can't quite shake some of the unsettling feelings of helplessness and despair at the state of our country right now, we can still do our best to channel our energy into the continuous pursuit of a better future.