“I can’t handle this anxiety.”
“I’m stressed and depressed.”
“Doing alright. Just getting by.”
“I don’t know what to do. I’m angry.”
These are a few of the common responses I get when I ask friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and strangers “How are you doing?” Ranging from teenagers to the elderly, they’re all feeling some mix of angry, fearful, confused, lost, regretful, annoyed, depressed, heart-broken, cautious, grieving, resentful, shocked, cynical, suspicious, and tired.
In 2013, I was a student teacher. Eager to dive into the classroom and pull wonder and curiosity out of 21 sweetly cute elementary students. In my second week there, I was still getting my feet under me when we had a whole-school drill. While previous schools had done fire drills, lock-downs, and evacuation drills, this was my first active shooter drill. Sandy Hook was a mere two months earlier, and every school was bracing. America believed (and still does) that preparing kids who still believe in Santa Claus for a shooter was a better approach than overhauling gun laws.
We huddled in the back of the classroom away from the door, and hid behind the…
