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Top Comments: Pony Express Metaphor Edition [1]
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Date: 2025-02-03
I feel like it’s been forever since my last diary but it was only last week. I don’t know about you, but January was about eight months long and so far it feels like February 123rd. I hope you’re all managing a balance of anger and action, with a healthy portion of self-care in there. I contact my elected daily, do what I can to provide accurate information to folks I’m connected with, dispel MISinformation, take care of the daily activities of living, and then allow myself ample time for some mindless activities. I also have a cute little self-care app that makes sure I drink water, stay calm (I added that as one of my daily goals!) etc and rewards me with clothes and furniture for my little birb.
Self-care for me also takes the shape of regular coffee with several of my best friends. We have another bestie diagnosed late last year with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer and this regular gathering gives us a space to coordinate our assistance and also get out all our frustrations at the universe so we can be the best friends our ill friend needs. That we also rant and strategize how to survive in the current dystopian hellscape is a side bonus.
During our latest coffee conversation, we were talking about the oft-heard advice It’s a marathon, not a sprint. I understand what is meant by it… you can’t run at 100% all the time, or you will burn out. You need to strategize, use your energy wisely, mix bursts of activity with periods of rest, etc. But it doesn’t really sit with me as being fully accurate, and feels to me like if you need to tap out for a bit, you’ve “failed” (yeah I know that’s now how it’s meant, but it’s what my brain hears). I recently heard another way to look at it: It’s a relay race, not a marathon.
Have you heard of Relay For Life? An awareness and fundraising event for the American Cancer Society, teams raise money for miles walked during the event. In ones I’ve supported or participated in, members of each team took turns running/walking around a track, handing off after each lap/mile/etc to another teammate, and continuing through an entire night. Everyone does what they can, cheering each other on as they make progress, then rest, then do it again. That is how I think of making it through the next four years… pick up the baton, run your leg of this, then hand off and rest. Then when you’re ready, pick up the baton again. Keep going.
One of my friends said she saw what I meant, but HER brain heard that as ‘going in circles, doing the same thing again and again. And as I sipped my coffee I came up with this:
What if it’s like the Pony Express? A rider and horse grab the mail, and get to the next station. The horse is swapped out and the rider continues, until both horse and rider are swapped but the mail continues on. With this system, mail went from St. Joseph Missouri to Sacramento California in ten days. Nearly 2000 miles on horseback in TEN DAYS.
With the Pony Express model, while we may be exhausted and still pushing ourselves hard, no one person is expected to travel the whole route. We do what we can and hand off that bag of activism to the next person, and get a meal and some sleep at the waystation until the NEXT rider comes in.
I know history buffs will point out that the Pony Express only lasted a short time and was a financial failure. But work with me here on the romanticized notion of the operation :).
Floors open in the comments to talk about the Pony Express, self-care, how you’re holding up, or whatever else is on your mind tonight! After the Tops, of course :)
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