I struggle to process events like the California wildfires. As someone who lived in Santa Monica, whose brother was a California fire fighter, who was in Sonoma for the wild fires of 2017, my system is wide open to the trauma and devastation happening in real time.
Humans aren’t built to process tragedies of this scope more than once, maybe twice, in a lifetime. But as more tragedies unfold every year, in a way that we can all watch on our phones, we have to evolve. We have to learn to regulate our bodies and hearts and nervous systems in order to stay present and open and loving and helpful. And that is no joke, my friends.
Ten years ago, I lived in Santa Monica, just a few blocks away from where the Palisade fires are still - as of this moment - blazing with zero percent containment. Every time I get on social media, I see dystopian images of fire and animals fleeing, cars lying abandoned. It’s hard to process. Humans aren’t designed to process the kind of trauma and devastation we see on a daily basis now.
The amount of nervous system dysregulation that shows up in these situations - for those who have lost everything, for those who have been displaced, for those who are watching families, friends, fellow humans deal with this - is enormous.
To anyone who’s affected by the California fires in any way, I’m sending my love.