It’s been a long, long week/month/year/decade, and May is stressful for all; public library staff are gearing up for Summer Reading (a wild time to work in a public library environment), while school staff are just trying to make it to the end of the school year (a wild time to work in a school environment). And of course, we’re still living in a pandemic; things are scary and uncertain in so many ways.
With all this happening, it is no surprise that I often have to remind myself to breathe. How often do you actually pay attention to your breathing? The persistently ragged, near-panicky gasping that has become my pandemic breathing style doesn’t exactly lead to inner peace. To really help yourself achieve some level of calm, one needs to be mindful of their breathing, and so, in that spirit, here are some links I hope you find helpful – one to a visualizer which is customizable, another to a page of breathing exercises (meant for individuals with chronic lung diseases, but helpful for anyone) from the American Lung Association.
May you all find some sort of peace in the midst of everything going on right now.
Today’s post was written by Sam Bloom, who lives and works in the Cincinnati area. The Chair of the AASL/ALSC/YALSA Interdivisional Committee on School/Public Library Cooperation, Sam can be reached at sibloom24@gmail.com.