This is how I used to do most of my writing: out in public, in the midst of things. I’d forgotten how much I missed it. ​ We imagine offices and classrooms and weddings, the casual tenderness with which we’ll interact. I think Peterson is right. It will take some time to move past what we’ve just gone through. Move past we will. I already am, giddy to be with others. And yet: I’d argue that some elements of our grief should stick with us.

No. And yes.

These days, my self-care has looked like self-talk: a direct encounter with that nasty voice, not a “treat myself” takeout order or pedicure. …and most of all, it means taking a hard look at what this worldview—we don’t deserve what we don’t earn—means in practice. This is corrosive of the common good because the more the successful believe they did it on their own and deserve what they’ve won, the less often they are to identify with those less fortunate than themselves.