#I started this new journey right when covid started and having no form of guidance being thrust into this vigorous study routine at a

[merinelsa]

So , hey guys

[mxenigmatic]

2020’s Self Care Books for Trying Times

With Covid-19 a global pandemic that is still lingering in the air, and keeping our connections at a social distance, added how here at NYPL our librarians miss the frequent interactions with our patrons, I was contemplating on ways to keep our reading connected, our souls warm, and our health having its self care. Before google, I’d rely on the plethora of information our branches hold on any challenge in life I’d be facing. Now with a myriad of problems we can tackle, and resources we can all use to improve our lives, I wanted to tackle grounding and elevating ourselves to cope with our surroundings, than advice I can provide on financial, relationship, life goals, etc.

In this blog “2020’s Self Care Books 4 Trying Times” I’ve comprised my 20 favorite titles for the year 2020 on wellness, people’s journeys, and how health experts can help guide us to a calm and vibrant place for our wellbeing. From parenting tips, to self acceptance, coping with a mental health disorder, or even self care rituals, the need for healthy habits is a topic we all can relate and rely on to keep us striving through this winter, and being united through our current unstable climate. We should never be ashamed of our experiences, asking for help, and addressing challenges in our lives to be at peace with our pasts, content with our present, and hopeful about our futures.

What is Self-care, according to very well mind, describes a conscious act one takes in order to promote their own physical, mental, and emotional health. There are many forms self-care may take. It could be ensuring you get enough sleep every night or stepping outside for a few minutes for some fresh air.

What is mindfulness? Mindfulness refers to being in the moment. This means feeling what our bodies feel, letting ourselves think without judging our thoughts, and being aware of our environment. It is about paying attention on purpose to both what is happening inside and outside of you.

ADULT

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey

Topics: Professional Development, Success, Psych Evaluation

One of the most inspiring and impactful books ever written, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has captivated readers for nearly three decades. It has transformed the lives of presidents and CEOs, educators and parents—millions of people of all ages and occupations. Now, this 30th anniversary edition of the timeless classic commemorates the wisdom of the 7 habits with modern additions from Sean Covey. The 7 habits have become famous and are integrated into everyday thinking by millions and millions of people. Why? Because they work!With Sean Covey's added takeaways on how the habits can be used in our modern age, the wisdom of the 7 habits will be refreshed for a new generation of leaders.

Stay Positive: Encouraging Quotes and Messages to Fuel Your Life With Positive Energy by Jon Gordon

Topics: Self Help, Affirmations, Optimism

Stay Positive is more than a phrase. It's an approach to life that says when you get knocked down, you'll get back up and find a way forward one faithful step and optimistic day at a time. Start your day with a message from the book, or pick it up anytime you need a mental boost. You can start from the beginning, or open the book to any page and find a message that speaks to you. The book is a go-to resource for anyone wanting to inject a healthy dose of positivity into their life

$9 Therapy: Semi-Capitalist Solutions to Your Emotional Problems by Megan Reid and Nick Greene

Topics: Life Skills/Hacks, Self Care Rituals, Budgeting

A collection of the authors' favorite life hacks and mini-upgrades, such as craft cocktails on the cheap or tips for a perfectly planned staycation. Sometimes it takes as little as nine dollars to turn your life around. How to find simple pleasures in a pricey, wellness-obsessed world.

You Were Born For This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance by Chani Nicholas

Topics: Astrology, Self Acceptance

A revolutionary empowerment book that uses astrology as a tool for self-discovery, success, and self-care from the beloved astrologer Chani Nicholas, a media darling with a loyal following of one million monthly readers.

TEEN

Teaching Mindfulness to Empower Adolescents by Matthew Brensilver

Topics: Mindfulness, Educational Guides, Learning Disabilities, Reflections

Effectively sharing mindfulness with teenagers depends on distinct skill sets . . . done well, it is incredibly joyous." Matthew Brensilver, JoAnna Hardy and Oren Jay Sofer provide a powerful guide to help teachers master the essential competencies needed to successfully share mindfulness practices with teens and adolescents. Incorporating anecdotes from actual teaching, they blend the latest scientific research with innovative, original techniques for making the practices accessible and interesting to this age group. This text is an indispensable handbook for mindfulness instruction in its own right, and a robust companion volume for teachers using The Mindful Schools Curriculum for Adolescents

The Self-Love Revolution: Radical Body Positivity for Girls of Color by Virgie Tovar

Topics: Self Esteem, Plus Size Positivity, Hygiene

Every day we see body ideals depicted in movies, magazines, and social media. And, all too often, these outdated standards make us feel like we need to change how we look and who we are. The truth is that many teens feel self-conscious about their bodies and being a teen girl of color is hard in unique ways. So, how can you start feeling good about yourself when you're surrounded by these unrealistic, and problematic images of what bodies are "supposed" to look like? This book is an unapologetic guide to help you embrace radical body positivity. You'll identify and challenge mainstream beliefs about beauty and bodies; celebrate what makes you unique and powerful; and build real, lasting body empowerment. You'll also learn how to spot diet culture and smash your noisy inner critic so you can start loving your body. It's time to create your own definition of beautiful and recognize that your body is amazing. It's time for a self-love revolution!

Out!: How To Be Your Authentic Self by Miles McKenna

Topics: Coming Out, Self Acceptance, Family Dynamics

Activist Miles McKenna came out on his YouTube channel in 2017, documenting his transition to help other teens navigate their identities and take charge of their own coming out stories. From that wisdom comes Out!, the ultimate YA guide to the queer lifestyle. Find validation, inspiration, and support for your questions big and small--whether you're exploring your identity or seeking to understand the experience of an awesome queer person in your life."

Dancing at the Pity Party: A Dead Mom Graphic Memoir by Tyler Feder

Topics: Grief Counseling, Coping with terminal illness, Bereavement. Family Estrangement

Tyler Feder shares her story of her mother's first oncology appointment to facing reality as a motherless daughter in this frank and refreshingly funny graphic memoir.

Superpowered: Transform Anxiety Into Courage, Confidence, and Resilience by Renee Jain and Dr. Shefali Tsabary

Topics: Health, Fitness, Selt Esteem.

The perfect tool for children facing new social and emotional challenges in an increasingly disconnected world! This how-to book from two psychology experts—packed with fun graphics and quizzes—will help kids transform stress, worry, and anxiety

Teen Guide to Mental Health by Don Nardo

Topics: Teens, Mental Health, Body Image, Puberty

Todays teens face and are expected to deal with a wide array of personal, social, and other issues involving home-life, school, dating, body image, sexual orientation, major life transitions, and in some cases physical and mental problems, including eating disorders and depression. This volume examines how many teens have learned to cope with and survive these often stressful trials and tribulations of modern youth.

KIDS

Turtle Boy by Evan Wolkenstein

Topics: Social Life, Friends, Relationships, School Stress

Seventh grade is not going well for Will Levine. Kids at school bully him because of his funny-looking chin. His science teacher finds out about the turtles he spent his summer collecting from the marsh behind school an orders him to release them back into the wild. And for his Bar Mitzvah community service project, he has to go to the hospital to visit RJ, an older boy struggling with an incurable disease. Unfortunately, Will hates hospitals. At first, the boys don't get along, but then RJ shares his bucket list with Will. Among the things he wants to do: ride a roller coaster, go to a concert and a school dance, swim in the ocean. To Will, happiness is hanging out in his room, alone, preferably with his turtles. But as RJ's disease worsens, Will realizes he needs to tackle the bucket list on his new friend's behalf before it's too late. It seems like an impossible mission, way outside Will's comfort zone. But as he completes each task with RJ's guidance, Will learns that life is too short to live in a shell.

How To Make A Better World: For Every Kid Who Wants To Make A Difference by Keilly Swift

Topics: Activism, Human Rights, Organizing

If you are a kid with big dreams and a passion for what is right, you're a world-changer in the making. There's a lot that can be changed by just one person, if you know what to do. Start by making yourself into the awesome person you want to be by learning all about self-care and kindness. Using those skills, work your way up to creating activist campaigns to tackle climate change or social injustice. This fun and inspiring guide to making the world a better place and becoming a good citizen is packed with ideas and tips for kids who want to know how to make a difference. From ideas as small as creating a neighborhood lending library to important ideas such as public speaking and how to talk about politics, How to Make a Better World is a practical guide to activism for awesome kids.

All About Anxiety by Carrie Lewis

Anxiety. It's an emotion that rears its head almost every day, from the normal worries and concerns that most of us experience, to outright fear when something scary happens, to the anxiety disorders, that many kids live with daily. But what causes anxiety? And what can we do about it? All About Anxiety tackles these questions from every possible angle. Readers will learn what's going on in their brain and central nervous system when they feel anxious. They'll learn about the evolutionary reasons for fear and anxiety and that anxiety isn't always a bad thing--except for when it is! Most importantly, kids will discover new strategies to manage their anxiety so they can live and thrive with anxiety

Dictionary for a better world: poems, quotes, and anecdotes from A to Z by Irene Latham

Topics: Inspiration, Self Help, Advice

Organized as a dictionary, entries in this book for middle-grade readers present words related to creating a better, more inclusive world. Each word is explored via a poem, a quote from an inspiring person, and a short personal anecdote from one of the co-authors, a prompt for how to translate the word into action, and an illustration".

I feel... meh by DJ Corchin

(E-book)Topics: Health, Fitness, Management

This series helps kids recognize, express, and deal with the roller coaster of emotions they feel every day. It has been celebrated by therapists, psychologists, teachers, and parents as wonderful tools to help children develop self-awareness for their feelings and those of their friends. Sometimes I feel meh and I don't want to play. I don't want to read and I have nothing to say. Sometimes you just feel...meh. You don't really feel like doing anything or talking to anyone. You're not even sure how you're feeling inside. Is that bad? With fun, witty illustrations and simple, straightforward text, I Feel...Meh tackles apathy—recognizing it as a valid emotion, while also offering practical steps to get you out of your emotional slump. It's the perfect way for kids—and adults—who are feeling gray to find some joy again!

Violet Shrink by Christine Baldacchino

Topics: Phobias, Relationships, Social Skills

Violet Shrink doesn't like parties. Or bashes, or gatherings. Lots of people and lots of noise make Violet's tummy ache and her hands sweat. She would much rather spend time on her own, watching the birds in her backyard, reading comics, or listening to music through her purple headphones. The problem is that the whole Shrink family loves parties with loud music and games and dancing. At cousin Char's birthday party, Violet hides under a table and imagines she is a shark gliding effortlessly through the water, looking for food. And at Auntie Marlene and Uncle Leli's anniversary bash, Violet sits alone at the top of the stairs, imagining she is a slithering snake way up in the branches. When Violet learns that the Shrink family reunion is fast approaching, she musters up the courage to have a talk with her dad. In this thoughtful story about understanding and acceptance, Violet's natural introversion and feelings of social anxiety are normalized when she and her father reach a solution together. Christine Baldacchino's warm text demonstrates the role imagination often plays for children dealing with anxiety, and the power of a child expressing their feelings to a parent who is there to listen. Carmen Mok's charming illustrations perfectly capture Violet's emotions and the vibrancy of her imagination. A valuable contribution to books addressing mental health."-- Provided by publisher.

Check out this link to a presentation by NYPL’s Children’s Librarians, Sarah West and Justine Toussaint on Mindfulness/Social-Emotional Self-Esteem Picture Book Spotlight. Featuring popular book titles in our database of the past few years promoting kids well beings!

Pre-2020 Books

Aphorism by Franz Kafka

Topics: Life Quotes, Recovery, Future Planning

For the first time, a single volume that collects all of the aphorisms penned by this universally acclaimed twentieth-century literary figure. Kafka twice wrote aphorisms in his lifetime. The first effort was a series of 109, known as the Zurau Aphorisms, which were written between September 1917 and April 1918, and originally published posthumously by his friend, Max Brod, in 1931. These aphorisms reflect on metaphysical and theological issues--as well as the occasional dog. The second sequence of aphorisms, numbering 41, appears in Kafka's 1920 diary dating from January 6 to February 29. It is in these aphorisms, whose subject is "He," where Kafka distills the unexpected nature of experience as one shaped by exigency and possibility."

This Book Loves You by PewDiePie

Topics: Life Skills, Inspiration, Food 4 Thought

A popular blogger shares humorous pieces of advice and positivity, including "Never forget you are beautiful compared to a fish" and "Every day is a new fresh start to stay in bed."

The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A Fuck: A Counterintuitive Approach To Living A Good Life by Mark Manson

Topic: Self Help, Happiness, Motivation

In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger shows us that the key to being happier is to stop trying to be 'positive' all the time and instead become better at handling adversity. For decades we've been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. But those days are over. 'Fuck positivity, ' Mark Manson says. 'Let's be honest; sometimes things are fucked up and we have to live with it.' For the past few years, Manson--via his wildly popular blog--has been working on correcting our delusional expectations for ourselves and for the world. He now brings his hard-fought wisdom to this groundbreaking book. Manson makes the argument--backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes--that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to better stomach lemons. Human beings are flawed and limited--as he writes, 'Not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault.' Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. This, he says, is the real source of empowerment. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties--once we stop running from and avoiding, and start confronting painful truths--we can begin to find the courage and confidence we desperately seek. 'In life, we have a limited amount of fucks to give. So you must choose your fucks wisely.' Manson brings a much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor. This manifesto is a refreshing slap in the face for all of us so we can start to lead more contented, grounded lives."

Zen Pencils: Cartoon Quotes From Inspirational Folks by Gavin Aung Than

Topics: Writing Development, Expression, Quotes

Gavin Aung Than, an Australian graphic designer turned cartoonist, started the weekly Zen Pencils blog in February 2012. He describes his motivation for launching Zen Pencils: I was working in the boring corporate graphic design industry for eight years before finally quitting at the end of 2011 to pursue my passion for illustration and cartooning. At my old job, when my boss wasn't looking, I would waste time reading Wikipedia pages, main biographies about people whose lives were a lot more interesting than mine. Their stories and quotes eventually inspired me to leave my job to focus on what I really wanted to do. The idea of taking these inspiring quotes, combining them with my love of drawing, and sharing them with others led to the creation of Zen Pencils.

By: @Mx.Enigma

She/They/Queen

[dailyaudiobible]

10/13/2020 DAB Transcripts

Jeremiah 22:1-23:20, 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12, Psalms 83:1-18, Proverbs 25:11-14

Today is the 13th day of October, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I'm Brian it’s great to be here with you for another day has we step into the Scriptures and out of whatever else is going on and just, come into the oasis that we create for ourselves that we call the Global Campfire. We just, yeah, come in and let God speak and it's amazing what He does in transforming the way we’re looking at the day and the circumstances that are facing us and re-orients us to His…His guidance and His love and compassion and leadership in our lives. So, let's dive in. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. Jeremiah chapter 22 verse 1 through 23 verse 20.

Introduction to second Thessalonians:

Okay. So, yesterday we concluded First Thessalonians, Paul's letter…first letter to the church in Thessalonica, also strongly believed by scholars to be the earliest Christian document in existence and the earliest of Paul's letters. But now we’ve turned the page and here we are at the threshold of another letter and this one is also to the church in Thessalonica called Second Thessalonians. And we can remember from the letter but also from talking about First Thessalonians that this is a church that was formed quickly and was continually pressed in upon by persecution and marginalization. And really the church was never like, was never not shoved to the side, was never not persecuted. So, these people are like early believers in Jesus young in their faith facing persecution, which brings up eventually a lot of questions like, does this ever get easier? Like, what's going on here? You said that Jesus was coming back. What do we do? And, so, Paul writes this second letter to the church in Thessalonica. And this is one of the letters that would be considered more…more disputed as far as did Paul write this or did someone write this in Paul's name. There’s some theological nuances that are more developed. There's just little things that get looked. But we could say many scholars also would say, no, Paul wrote this. Even the earliest church fathers quoted from second Thessalonians. So, likely if this is written by Paul it…it came…it came pretty quickly after the first letter. He is clarifying things that he wrote about before and broadening them and he's like correcting specific assumptions. Basically you have to know…I mean we’ve talked about this before, but these early letters that are being passed around at the churches are coming from the perspective that Jesus return, like this is an eminent, very, very, like immediate…there's no time to do anything else but focus upon this, that Jesus is coming back. That’s the kind of context that they’re in. So, in Thessalonica because the people are being marginalized and persecuted there are some that are like, “well, I'm quitin’ my job. Like…like Jesus is already on the white horse. He just hasn't got to earth yet. Like this is happening now and things are just heating up all around us. So, this is an imminent thing. We don't have time to think about getting married and stuff. So, I don't really have time to think about working either because it’s only like…it’s only bringing me persecution and…and hardship and trouble. So, I’m not gonna…I’m not gonna work. I’m just goona wait for Jesus.” And we’ve seen…I mean…that’s…this isn’t the only time this has ever happened. This kind of stuff has actually happened in our own lifetimes where people believe the return of Christ is imminent. It's…you know…everything has lined up and here we go. And, so, people quit their jobs, take extravagant vacations, sell their houses, do all kinds of stuff, wait for the day and then the day…the day comes and…and then they gotta figure it out and start over again. Paul's kind of addressing this because as people were waiting, they were just idle, and idleness usually doesn't lead to positivity. Like it usually leads to like meddling and getting in other people's business and having opinions that you don’t have any right to have and having running commentary on topics that have nothing to do with you. And, so, this is kinda getting in. And, so, Paul ends up telling the church family there that, “you know, if you’re not gonna work then just, you know, you’re not gonna just leech off everybody else who does. Like, you gotta…you gotta work if you…if you want to eat.” And there are other things that Paul wants to address. And it's not just like a corrective letter, like, “let me set the record straight on some of these things.” These people, this church happened so quickly and under such pressure, that they hold a special place in Paul's heart. And you can imagine that people who are waiting for Jesus and being faithful and loyal to the cause of Christ and to the message of the gospel but who are just getting pummeled by society, they need a voice of encouragement like continually because they’re…they’re under fire continually. And Paul's tells them, “I see you”, basically, “your endurance, you're not doing this is under a cover. Like, I see you. This isn’t being overlooked. Everybody sees this. Everybody sees what you're doing, that you're being faithful. And as you are faithful and endure, you’re being made worthy of the kingdom of God. And in the end, although you are experiencing injustice in the end, justice will prevail. And, so, we begin. Second Thessalonians chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for another day. This is a continual prayer. We’re always grateful for another day but we are grateful for the way that Your word comes into our lives and it becomes a part of the fabric of the days that we live and Your Holy Spirit brings to mind things when we need them. Sometimes we don't heed those things and then we have Your word to kind of show us where those pathways lead. And it’s not surprising. Yet, we have Your comfort that You always come for us wherever we are, that wisdom is always there leading us the way back. We are so grateful and as we continue to move forward through the letters of Paul, we ask Your Holy Spirit to ignite in us the joy of our salvation and the understanding of endurance. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus our Savior. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and that's where you find out what’s going on around here. That's where the Global Campfire burns. It's a virtual community friends. We’re all over the world in every time zone there is, on every continent that…that there is. And, so, we have to look…we have to look at what we are a little uniquely, which is so good, so good that we’ve been able to do what we've been able to do all these years and just kinda move through things like what has happened on the earth in 2020 with Covid and all this and we’ve been able to just keep moving forward because we live in this virtual world in community together no matter what's going on. So, knowing thar dailyaudiobible.com is home base and it’s where you find out what's going on around here is important to know. So, stay connected, stay tuned. Visit the Prayer Wall. Get connected on social media. Visit the Shop. Check out the Initiatives. And, yeah, let's continue our journey forward because it has been such a weird year, but such an adventure through the Scriptures this year. How often they’re just like, “wow! Did I need to hear that today!” And, so, what an adventure that we are on and let's stay connected to it.

Including if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. If what's happening here, day by day step-by-step this rhythm of life that allows us to come together in community around the Global Campfire and just be here and to know we have a place, a place in every day that is an oasis, that is safe, that is a place where we can let our burdens go for a few minutes and allow the Bible to just speak to us. If that is life-giving to you, then thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the red button at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello DAB family this is Carma in Fort Wayne Indiana. On October 6th Joyful Jay in the Everglades called and talked about how hard it is to pick up the heavy hairy phone. I knew the Holy Spirit was indeed talking to me as God has been prompting me to call for quite some time. And yet the enemy has been feeding me lies that my problems are not that big of a deal. Besides I’m blessed with some great friends who faithfully pray for me. So, Satan led me to believe that I don’t need others to pray too. But I am part of this DAB family and have listened every single day since September 2017 after a tragedy in my life. And when one part of the body hurts, we all hurt. So, today I’m asking you to pray for my family and me. For 19 months we have been living in crisis mode. My sister’s family was completely torn apart by infidelity, lies, greed, drugs, and the list goes on. She had a beautiful family by all outward appearances, but it was completely destroyed. Now her four children live in four different places and my mom and I are blessed to have the youngest was 13 years old living with us. I’ve always longed to be a mom myself but it’s quite a challenge to suddenly become the parent of a teenager who has been through so much trauma. I need your prayers family. I feel like I take one step forward and two steps back and it is just so emotionally exhausting. In addition, I recently resigned my job which had become a poor fit for my skills. So, I’m job searching too which is also emotionally taxing. I want my life to exude joy in the midst of so much hard, but I need the Holy Spirit and the faithful prayers of others to do it. Thanks for praying. It is a joy to be on this journey together.

Hello, my name is Lydia and I like listening to the Daily Audio Bible Kid’s radio. I’m from Georgia and I would ask that…ask you would pray for me for my cold and for my daddy since he’s going to Louisiana to help build the hurricane and for mama and I in that we would be comforted. Thank you.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family this is Jane Ruth from Nebraska. And, you know, I came face-to-face with reality today. I realized that the reason why I have been unwilling to talk and ask for prayer is because I am so proud. I don’t want to admit that I am 62 ½ years old and I’ve never been married, and I don’t have any children, and I want a partner. I want to be married. And the reason I don’t want to admit this, is because all of my history is based on that. Why are you not married? And why don’t you have children? And if I tell why it brings the whole story of where I’ve been and what’s happened and if I stay in the problem, I can’t live this way. If I live in the solution, I can’t live alone because I cannot support my story without a firm foundation in Christ. So, I need help.

Hello, my dear Daily Audio Bible family this is Maria the Missionary in Mexico. I want to give a shout out specifically to Cheryl from Ontario Canada. Thank you so much, what a blessing and an encouragement. I called in with an update about my coworker Barb and you said you were praying for her and for us as well. Well that just couldn’t come at a more timely moment. We are thriving in Jesus. We love Mexico, we love our ministry here. So much to love but I’d be dishonest to say that it’s just been a breeze and that lately we haven’t been having a bit of stress. Of course, Covid has added to it because my husband’s not only a missionary pilot down here, he’s also part of the contingency team which as you can imagine with Covid has a lot more to do. So, he’s very busy in that ministry. And then just because of random and unforeseen circumstances none of our other coworker pilots in all of the country are here at the moment or can fly. They have their medical things going on or medical that their spouse has, and they have to leave or paperwork stuff. So, it’s just kind of interesting and obviously my husband has had tons to do. Also, when he was on a trip, a commercial flight, he picked up what looks to be Covid now because the people that caught it from him on that trip, they tested positive Covid. He thankfully is getting over that fine. Our kids all started getting sick and they seem to be fine. I can feel some stuff in my lungs happening. So, I really appreciate your prayers. Barb our coworker, her tumor in behind her ear, in her air canal is too large for the Gamma knife so we’re just praying that God directs her to the right surgeon. Anyway, thank you all. I love you and I will update you as I know more. God bless.

Hey, my wonderful DAB fam this is Kingdom Seeker Daniel and fam I want to pray for just a couple DABbers. So, would you please be so kind to join me. Let’s look to the Lord. Father, we thank You and we praise You for who You are. You are the God of another chance. And Lord You…You designed marriage. And, so, God we pray that You would be the restorer of Dimitri from Oregon’s marriage Lord as his wife has filed for divorce. But he does not want to divorce. And, so, the court the court date is set for November 4th. God, we ask that You would manifest Your will in this situation. Satan comes to kill, steal, and destroy but God, Jesus came that we might have life. And I pray that Dimitri and his wife would experience that life being given back to this marriage in the name of Jesus. Will You cause life to be revived through this marriage? Touch that wife’s heart and mind. You know where she is and what’s standing in the way. I plead Your precious blood over…over Dimitri and I pray God that You would turn this marriage around to the glory of Your great name. In Jesus’ name. And then remember Candace from Oregon’s sons, specifically Micah who’s going through a difficult time. Lord I pray that You would save all of the…the boys God but specifically do a work and Micha’s heart. I pray that You would comfort Candace’s heart and let her know that You are at work concerning her sons in the name of Jesus. We thank You and we praise You for the restoration, for the healing, for the deliverance and the breakthrough coming to Candace’s home and boys in Jesus’ name.

Hi there DAB family this is Sean Sean of the mountains calling in from Fayetteville Arkansas and I’m calling in response to Sonia from Austin Texas who called or I at least heard her on October 9th and she was talking about her father who had committed suicide and I just want to pray for her and for others who may have been dealing with the suicide of a family member. My brother, my only sibling took his life four years ago and it was just really a shock and really devastating and I mean I and my family members have walked through that in these past four years and we’re coming to some good places and the Lord has met us very sweetly. So, I’d like to pray. Dear Jesus we are so grateful and thank You that You have walked through suffering, that You are acquainted with deepest grief, that You…You put our tears in a bottle and You bring new life to us, You bring what’s needed. I pray for those who are walking through this, who may be walking through this thing recently. Lord would You just meet them in their deepest need. Help them to grieve well and to be able to remember their loved ones in good ways and not just the suicide. And we put all these things in Your hands in Jesus’ name. Amen.

[orbemnews]

Coronavirus and travel: Everything you need to know (CNN) — Bathed in the faint light at the end of the once seemingly endless pandemic tunnel are visions of trips that reunite us with loved ones or take us to some blissfully new environment. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is still urging Americans — even those who have been vaccinated — not to travel, although a recent uptick in the number of passengers screened at US airport checkpoints indicates that people are traveling again in greater numbers. So in many cases, we may be getting ahead of ourselves. But there is no doubt that interest in traveling and making future plans is picking up — raising lots of questions about how to safely navigate the new travel landscape. Each country has its own tangle of rules and restrictions, so almost any trip will require deep pre-travel research. Here’s what you need to consider as the pandemic eases: Even if I can travel, should I? Restrictions vary widely across the world, and for many people it is possible to travel domestically and internationally. Yet many public health officials would advise against it. As noted, the CDC recommends against travel right now. “We are very worried about transmissible variants. A lot of them have come through our travel corridors, so we’re being extra cautious right now with travel,” CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on March 11. Walensky noted that every time travel escalates, a surge in coronavirus cases follows, citing Independence Day, Labor Day and the winter holiday season. City officials in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, are anticipating a large spring break crowd this month. Joe Raedle/Getty Images Can I travel within my own country? As with most things pandemic-related, it depends on where you live. Leisure travel is completely out of bounds for the moment in the UK, although destinations are already bracing for a huge influx of domestic travelers when the lockdown eases later this spring. In Canada, there are no federal travel requirements for Canadians traveling between provinces and territories, although there are provincial or territorial rules and restrictions in many cases and nonessential travel is discouraged. In Germany, overnight stays in hotels for tourism purposes are prohibited. No matter where you are, it’s important to check regional and national websites and resources for guidance and restrictions on travel. Do I need a negative Covid-19 test to travel internationally? In a great many cases, yes, you will need a negative Covid-19 test before you travel to another country. But again, it depends on your destination. Check local government and tourism sites for Covid-related requirements. CNN Travel’s Unlocking the World guides offer up to date information on many popular destinations A traveler takes a photo of a Covid-19 testing sign at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in February 2021. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images The time frame for getting a test before departure varies by destination and there can be requirements around the type of test or the testing provider, as is the case for Hawaii. Not every destination requires a test. For example, Mexico has one of the world’s most relaxed travel policies. The country currently does not require testing or quarantine for international arrivals. Do I need a negative Covid-19 test to get into the United States? All air passengers two years of age and older entering the United States must have a negative Covid-19 test result taken within three days of your flight to the US or documentation indicating you have recovered from Covid-19. The requirement includes US citizens and legal permanent residents returning to the United States. Nonessential travel is restricted across US land borders with Canada and Mexico. Travelers arrive at a hotel in Melbourne, Australia, to quarantine in December 2020. WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Images Will I have to quarantine? Some countries require all travelers to quarantine and have narrow restrictions on the acceptable reasons for entering at all. Others have no quarantine requirements (Mexico, for one) or are much less restrictive. Travelers entering Canada, including those who have tested negative or recovered from Covid-19 or have been vaccinated, must quarantine or face fines or more severe penalties. International leisure and tourism arrivals are barred from entry. Many popular tourism destinations in the Caribbean and elsewhere have adopted testing rules that allow international arrivals to bypass quarantine requirements with negative results. It’s important to check on specific requirements for your destination and for returning home. Do I have to be vaccinated for international travel? It’s complicated. Some countries are starting to open borders to vaccinated travelers who would otherwise be barred from entry. Travelers from non-Schengen countries, including the US and the UK, will soon be allowed to visit Iceland with proof of vaccination or having recovered from Covid. Some countries are allowing vaccinated travelers to bypass entry requirements they would otherwise need to comply with such as negative Covid-19 tests and quarantines. For example, travelers to Belize can bypass pre-departure Covid tests. So while being vaccinated may not be a requirement to travel, proof of vaccination could significantly smooth the journey. But being vaccinated is far from a carte blanche. Some countries are only welcoming vaccinated travelers from specific areas, such as the European Economic Area. And many haven’t yet made a decision on vaccinated visitors. So even if you’re vaccinated, you’ll need to make sure your destination is welcoming inoculated travelers from your location. International air travelers are likely to share health information in the future via new apps. Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images How do I share my test results and vaccination status with officials and travel providers? The confusing tangle of Covid regulations continues. In the US, incoming travelers must present a “verifiable test result” to their airline. It “must be in the form of written documentation (paper or electronic copy) of a laboratory test result,” according to the CDC. When possible, take both electronic and paper copies wherever you travel. The process for sharing test results and vaccination status varies by destination and in some cases they are only valid in specific languages. There are a number of digital applications — commonly referred to as “vaccine passports” or “vaccination certificates” — in development that aim to streamline health information so that it’s securely shareable across borders. Numerous international airlines have plans to trial the International Air Transport Association’s Travel Pass. Clear’s Health Pass and Common Pass are also health information apps. The European Commission has proposed a Digital Green Certificate to facilitate movement inside the EU. The digital certificate would include three types of information: vaccination certificates, test certificates and certificates for those who have recovered from Covid-19. Tourists line up to board a boat in Playa del Carmen, Mexico on March 3, 2021. Mexico has some of the world’s loosest travel rules. Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images I’m planning to travel. What can I do to decrease my risk of contracting or spreading the virus? The mitigation strategies you use at home apply on the road. Vigilant hand hygiene, social distancing and mask use are key, as is avoiding crowded indoor spaces. Air travel is considered riskier by the CDC than car travel because of the unavoidable contact with other people in airports and aboard flights, although documented cases of on board transmission are few. The advanced air filtration used on commercial airliners — plus mask mandates on planes — helps to lower the risk in flight. Limiting stops and contact with others on road trips, social distancing and opting for contactless check-in at hotels are all important ways to reduce risk. As are focusing on outdoor activities and avoiding close contact with people outside of your bubble. Hopefully, in the months to come, our worlds will expand well beyond our bubbles — with careful country-by-country calculations. Source link Orbem News #coronavirus #Travel

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Demi Lovato On New Love, New Management, And Finally Learning To Cry - Bustle

Demi Lovato imagined herself in the middle of the ocean. As the 27-year-old tread water, long black hair skimming over dark waves, she was given a command: Raise your hand if you want to lose weight. Because Lovato is a pop star who has produced nine Top 20 Billboard singles under the scrutiny of 86 million Instagram followers and a BMI-obsessed tabloid press — and because she has dealt with eating disorders for more than a decade — Lovato raised her tattooed and extravagantly nail-arted hand.

While Lovato kept herself suspended in the open water with one limb, she was given another directive: Raise your hand if you’re willing to do something about your eating disorder. Because Lovato was, at that point in 2018, not in an ocean but in treatment for that eating disorder — as well as for addiction issues that led to an opioid overdose — Lovato obliged the counselor’s command and lifted her other hand. Which, of course, left her with no paddles to keep her from drowning in the metaphorical ocean. So Lovato made the choice to pull down her salute to thinness.

“I used to have people watching me the night before a photo shoot to make sure that I didn’t binge or eat and be swollen the next day,” Lovato says right before her late-June Bustle cover shoot. “It’s just a totally different world now. … I don’t prepare for photo shoots, even. I can eat Subway for breakfast.” Lovato delivers this news from a table in the Los Angeles house she rents with her boyfriend, actor Max Ehrich. She is resplendent in full glam but sans bra under a Selena Quintanilla shirt. Lovato left her high-rise apartment in March when another tenant tested positive for COVID-19, and she initially moved in with her mother and stepfather before realizing it’s “a little difficult to be in a new relationship at your family’s house.” Behind Lovato, in her temporary living room, sits a surgically masked team of people who do not spend their time monitoring her weight.

The new squad is led by Scooter Braun, whom Lovato approached in 2019, a year after her overdose. It was time to move on from longtime manager Phil McIntyre, who had worked with Lovato since she was a teenager. “In the past,” Lovato says, “I projected my own abandonment issues onto other people, especially male figures that I looked up to as father figures. I had to reflect on, ‘What do I want my relationship with my manager to look like without enmeshing my own father issues onto him?’” (Lovato’s estranged birth father, who she has said was abusive and suffered from mental health issues, passed away the week after Father’s Day in 2013.)

Braun honed his ability to manage trauma and talent in a gantlet of wounded musicians. “I’ve been through that with Justin,” Braun says, not needing to clarify the surname of Bieber, who very publicly grappled with his own substance use and mental health issues, which manifested in behavior including mop bucket urination and monkey abandonment. “I’ve been through that with Ariana, you know?” (Grande has talked about exhibiting symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder following the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing. The next year, her ex, rapper Mac Miller, passed away after accidentally overdosing on fentanyl, cocaine, and alcohol.) “I felt like, because I’ve been through that a couple of times with people who started off very young,” Braun says, “I can understand [Demi’s] struggles a little bit.”

In Lovato’s meeting with Braun, he says, “my intention was to be respectful and decline.” He simply didn’t feel he could take on another client. “She was nervous,” Braun says. (“I was nervous because I wanted him to manage me so bad, and I was terrified of rejection,” Lovato explains. “Also, having gone through such a public overdose, I didn’t know if anyone would want to manage me after that.”) Then Braun had a revelation. “What I saw is that she needed someone who didn’t need her. And about halfway through the meeting, [my partner Allison Kaye and I] both looked at each other and instinctually kind of laughed. And then Allison texted me and goes, ‘You’re thinking the same thing I am.’ I knew I could help her. I knew Allison could help her. I knew that we were in a position, in our lives and our careers, that if Demi needed to take three years off, she can do that. And if Demi needs us to go and have an honest conversation and get her out of something, it doesn’t affect my reputation.”

The implication is that Lovato is the kind of person who repeatedly finds herself needing to get out of something. “The people that are there with me every single day,” Lovato says, “I have to feel very connected with them and that I can trust them. That I can be totally vulnerable, transparent, and honest. And if I’m having a panic attack in the middle of a photo shoot or something that I can sit in the dressing room with whomever is there, and they can help me with it.”

Asking for help instead of forgiveness feels like a newer approach for Lovato, whose problems, in the past, seemed to be hastily dealt with when they erupted in public. But she is also singular among celebrities in her fame bracket in her willingness to go into detail about her low points. In 2015, Lovato chastised a tattoo artist for inking a “drunken teenage girl” after the woman went on Instagram to complain about Lovato’s behavior during an inebriated tattoo session. Earlier this year, Lovato went on the Ellen DeGeneres Show to explain that her eating disorder fueled a 2018 relapse, describing how her old management team gave her watermelon with fat-free whipped cream every year on her birthday in lieu of cake. Lovato’s mother Dianna De La Garza wrote a bracingly revealing memoir of her own anorexia, depression, and substance use issues, Falling With Wings. The autobiography features anecdotes like the time Lovato texted her “I’m sorry ahead of time.” (De La Garza was somewhat relieved to learn this apology was merely in reference to Lovato physically attacking a backup dancer and not a suicide note. Lovato wrote the foreword to the book.) When Lovato finished her first attempt at rehab, triggered by the 2010 punching incident, she took the advice to give her first interview just three months after completing treatment. “It was too soon, in my opinion,” Lovato says now. “But nobody knew any better, because we were looking to people in the [recovery] field for guidance.”

“I just felt like here’s someone who is so sweet, so nice and has obviously been through some shit,” Braun says. “And she made mistakes along the way, but also as a child was put in positions…” He doesn’t need to say what the positions were.

To put herself into more advantageous situations, Lovato says, “I had to learn the hard way from ignoring my needs and wants for so many years.” Really, she says, she didn’t even know what those desires were. Self-destructive behavior was, Lovato says, “just doing something because I didn’t know what to do.”

Before quarantine, it was very difficult for me to cry. I had programmed the thought into my head when I was 16 that I’m only going to cry if people pay me to.

2020 was supposed to be Lovato’s post-relapse comeback year, beginning with the wrenching Grammys debut of torch single “Anyone” and her Super Bowl performance of the national anthem, both delivered in head-to-toe angelic white. Lovato acted opposite Will Ferrell in the June Netflix comedy Eurovision Song Contest, has been hired to host a Quibi interview show, and will release a four-part YouTube docu-series that promises to “show fans her personal and musical journey over the past three years.” Lovato had also planned to release her album and go on tour, endeavors that are now postponed until those kinds of droplet-spreading events are less potentially deadly. Now, Lovato’s project is Lovato. She is painting Hawaiian eucalyptus trees and Black Lives Matter-inspired portraits of George Floyd — “I’m kind of embarrassed about how that turned out because it doesn’t look anything like him,” Lovato says, accurately — and working with a vast constellation of dietitians and coaches and spiritual advisers, one of whom she says warned her this pause was coming. “She was like, ‘Don’t panic when your work stops. It’s going to slow down drastically,’” Lovato says of the prophecy. “So I was kind of prepared in a weird way, and I just adapted. I think the universe — God — shifted that to happen in my life.”

God recently re-entered Lovato’s life, courtesy of Braun, who took her to church for the first time in years this winter. Tears are another recent re-addition. “Before quarantine, it was very difficult for me to cry. I had programmed the thought into my head when I was 16 that I’m only going to cry if people pay me to.” Now, Lovato says, “I started doing all this work, allowing myself to feel the pains of all the losses that I’ve had or the adversities or traumas that I’ve faced. I think my ability to be vulnerable and be more intimate with people has really heightened.”

The pandemic has been a graceless slam on the brakes for everyone lucky enough to safely abstain from public life and quarantine with their existential problems. Lovato has experienced hard stops before, in the form of multiple rehab stays. But this is the first time the halt was not a reaction to her own behavior. It’s an opportunity instead of a rebuke. A chance to feel for herself, not for an audience or a paycheck. After acknowledging the sacrifices of frontline workers and expressing sympathy for the sick and dead, Lovato admits the time has been “really good” for her. “It’s very common for people to only really work on themselves when crisis happens or when they notice that they’re slipping into old patterns or behaviors,” Lovato says. “So to be able to walk into this experience without a personal crisis and just be like, I can do the work on myself now because I have the time. … It was a beautiful thing.” As an added benefit, she says, “I wasn’t in rehab; I was outside in the world with Netflix. So when I was too tired of therapy, I’d put on Schitt’s Creek.” (For those who haven’t experienced inpatient rehabilitation facilities, there’s generally no Wi-Fi there.) “I was given this opportunity,” Lovato says of quarantine. “And I was like, I’m going to adapt. I’m going to shift to this. I’m going to learn from it.”

The day before we spoke, Lovato wrote a letter to her father. Though they never reconciled before his death, it was a love note, albeit a backhanded one. “I am who I am because of you,” Lovato wrote. “And I’m grateful for that. Because of your absence, I am an independent woman now. Because you were a pathological liar, I am honest to a fault.”

Like many things Lovato says, the content of the statement feels at odds with its delivery: a deluge of raw truth relayed with the bright tone and smile of the former Disney star. Though Lovato had an eating disorder before she became famous, she says, “I kind of looked around and had a moment where I was like, ‘Wow. This is so terrifyingly normalized.’” So many beautiful people around her were grinning through self-abuse. Lovato’s exploits with substance use became increasingly well-documented, and when she got help, she wanted to both explain that the slender bodies people saw on TV were not “normal” and destigmatize the painful consequences of trying to look like that. “When I went to treatment in 2010,” Lovato says, “I came out of the experience with the choice of talking about my struggles or my journey with the possibility of helping people, or keeping my mouth shut and going back to Disney Channel. And I was like that doesn’t feel authentic to me. So I chose to tell my story. And I had this, like, savior complex, where I thought, ‘Oh, I made this pact with God when I was young’” — in which Lovato would become a successful singer in exchange for doing His work — “and now I have to save people.”

In 2013, Lovato published Staying Strong: 365 Days a Year, a New York Times best-selling book of anodyne daily wisdom like, “If you spend too much time living in the past, you aren’t able to live in the now. Make an effort to move forward today.” After procrastinating until just before her publisher’s deadline, Lovato wound up writing the book in what she describes as a matter of days. “But it was more people-pleasing than anything, and then I realized through all of that people-pleasing that I wasn’t being authentic.” Earning praise for her relationship with recovery and rehabilitation was a way of “fueling those patterns that I had and that were bringing me to destruction,” Lovato says. “I think that’s what you’re hearing when you read back that book. … I binged on recovery, where I switched my addiction from the actual addictions to the recovery.” Now, Lovato tries to balance an impulse to expose with a refusal to flay herself doing so. “I have to set boundaries in interviews so I don’t treat them like therapy sessions,” she says pointedly. “But I’m able to hear my progress through the words that I’m saying when I read them back.”

You can see the impact of Lovato’s honesty in celebrity culture, and the need for continued public processing. It’s hard to imagine Taylor Swift revealing her own eating disorder in Netflix documentary Miss Americana without Lovato’s precedent. Meanwhile, Beyoncé was lauded for being transparent in the Netflix doc Homecoming about her disciplined Coachella rehearsal diet: “No bread, no carbs, no sugar, no dairy, no meat, no fish, no alcohol.” (Beyoncé perhaps needlessly clarified, “I’m hungry.”) Previously, Lovato says, “I would have prepared for something like Coachella or a photo shoot. I don’t look like Beyoncé. But I can’t risk my mental health because I have things in my history that Beyoncé doesn’t or may not have. For me, it’s a riskier thing.”

Lovato’s friend Jameela Jamil met her more than a decade ago, when Lovato was a teenager and Jamil was a radio host. Jamil has watched Lovato navigate radical honesty as a celebrity and let it inspire her own activism around eating disorders and body image. “She is revolutionary in how open and forthcoming she is with her truth,” Jamil says. “It comes at huge cost and risk; once you open the door into your personal life, people feel entitled to you. And people project this savior complex onto you, which is impossible to maintain.

“She takes on so much scrutiny and does it boldly in the name of making sure her fans aren’t harmed the way she was growing up,” Jamil continues. “Nobody else has done what she’s done. I can’t stress it enough when I tell people she’s a big part of where I drew strength to really start speaking my mind.”

Jamil was motivated by Lovato to self-advocate, but Lovato says during that time, “Even though I had a big singing voice, I didn’t have a big speaking voice for myself. I didn’t express my needs… And then after a while of your needs and your wants being ignored, you burst.”

To keep from bursting, Lovato needed to finally figure out what she wants. “I want a career that has nothing to do with my body,” she says, imagining the possibility of being neither an object nor a statement against objectification. “I want it to be about my music and my lyrics and my message. And I want a long-lasting career that I don’t have to change myself for. Music brought me so much joy when I was younger, and I lost that joy throughout the hustle and bustle of the music industry. I got miserable. And I don’t ever want it to be like that again. That’s what I want.”

The question, then, is who Lovato is when she’s not experiencing trauma. Will she become a “normal” star instead of one constantly fighting the normalized standards of stardom? When a singer so publicly tied to her pain is happy and sober and at peace and with God, are the tragedies just bad things she experienced, or are they a part of her? “I don’t think there’s a correct answer to this question,” Lovato says slowly. “I know these things happened to me. They shaped me into who I am. So maybe it’s a bit of both.” As Lovato says this, she lifts her right and left hands, palms open to all possibilities. She smiles. She’s still afloat.

Top image credit: Carolina Herrera pants; Totême courtesy of Farfetch tank; Zero + Maria Cornejo cardigan; Jennifer Fisher earrings; Jordan Road necklace.

Video credit: Mara Hoffman dress; Olgana Paris shoes; Jennifer Fisher ring; Lana Jewelry earrings.

Photographer: Angelo Kritikos

Hair: Paul Norton

Makeup: Rokael Lizama

Manicurist: Natalie Minerva

Stylist: Siena Montesano

Set Designer: Kelly Fondry

Art Director: Erin Hover

Fashion Direction: Tiffany Reid

Bustle followed current guidelines from the CDC and put measures in place to maximize the safety of our talent and crew.

[truemedian]

Demi Lovato On New Love, New Management, And Finally Learning To Cry

Demi Lovato imagined herself in the middle of the ocean. As the 27-year-old tread water, long black hair skimming over dark waves, she was given a command: Raise your hand if you want to lose weight. Because Lovato is a pop star who has produced nine Top 20 Billboard singles under the scrutiny of 86 million Instagram followers and a BMI-obsessed tabloid press — and because she has dealt with eating disorders for more than a decade — Lovato raised her tattooed and extravagantly nail-arted hand. While Lovato kept herself suspended in the open water with one limb, she was given another directive: Raise your hand if you’re willing to do something about your eating disorder. Because Lovato was, at that point in 2018, not in an ocean but in treatment for that eating disorder — as well as for addiction issues that led to an opioid overdose — Lovato obliged the counselor’s command and lifted her other hand. Which, of course, left her with no paddles to keep her from drowning in the metaphorical ocean. So Lovato made the choice to pull down her salute to thinness. “I used to have people watching me the night before a photo shoot to make sure that I didn't binge or eat and be swollen the next day,” Lovato says right before her late-June Bustle cover shoot. “It’s just a totally different world now. … I don't prepare for photo shoots, even. I can eat Subway for breakfast.” Lovato delivers this news from a table in the Los Angeles house she rents with her boyfriend, actor Max Ehrich. She is resplendent in full glam but sans bra under a Selena Quintanilla shirt. Lovato left her high-rise apartment in March when another tenant tested positive for COVID-19, and she initially moved in with her mother and stepfather before realizing it’s “a little difficult to be in a new relationship at your family's house.” Behind Lovato, in her temporary living room, sits a surgically masked team of people who do not spend their time monitoring her weight. The new squad is led by Scooter Braun, whom Lovato approached in 2019, a year after her overdose. It was time to move on from longtime manager Phil McIntyre, who had worked with Lovato since she was a teenager. “In the past,” Lovato says, “I projected my own abandonment issues onto other people, especially male figures that I looked up to as father figures. I had to reflect on, ‘What do I want my relationship with my manager to look like without enmeshing my own father issues onto him?’” (Lovato’s estranged birth father, who she has said was abusive and suffered from mental health issues, passed away the week after Father’s Day in 2013.) Braun honed his ability to manage trauma and talent in a gantlet of wounded musicians. “I've been through that with Justin,” Braun says, not needing to clarify the surname of Bieber, who very publicly grappled with his own substance use and mental health issues, which manifested in behavior including mop bucket urination and monkey abandonment. “I've been through that with Ariana, you know?” (Grande has talked about exhibiting symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder following the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing. The next year, her ex, rapper Mac Miller, passed away after accidentally overdosing on fentanyl, cocaine, and alcohol.) “I felt like, because I've been through that a couple of times with people who started off very young,” Braun says, “I can understand struggles a little bit.” Sleeper set; Maryam Nassir Zadeh shoes; Jennifer Fisher earrings; Jordan Road necklace. In Lovato’s meeting with Braun, he says, “my intention was to be respectful and decline.” He simply didn't feel he could take on another client. “She was nervous,” Braun says. (“I was nervous because I wanted him to manage me so bad, and I was terrified of rejection,” Lovato explains. “Also, having gone through such a public overdose, I didn’t know if anyone would want to manage me after that.”) Then Braun had a revelation. “What I saw is that she needed someone who didn't need her. And about halfway through the meeting, both looked at each other and instinctually kind of laughed. And then Allison texted me and goes, ‘You're thinking the same thing I am.’ I knew I could help her. I knew Allison could help her. I knew that we were in a position, in our lives and our careers, that if Demi needed to take three years off, she can do that. And if Demi needs us to go and have an honest conversation and get her out of something, it doesn't affect my reputation.” The implication is that Lovato is the kind of person who repeatedly finds herself needing to get out of something. “The people that are there with me every single day,” Lovato says, “I have to feel very connected with them and that I can trust them. That I can be totally vulnerable, transparent, and honest. And if I'm having a panic attack in the middle of a photo shoot or something that I can sit in the dressing room with whomever is there, and they can help me with it.” Asking for help instead of forgiveness feels like a newer approach for Lovato, whose problems, in the past, seemed to be hastily dealt with when they erupted in public. But she is also singular among celebrities in her fame bracket in her willingness to go into detail about her low points. In 2015, Lovato chastised a tattoo artist for inking a “drunken teenage girl” after the woman went on Instagram to complain about Lovato’s behavior during an inebriated tattoo session. Earlier this year, Lovato went on the Ellen DeGeneres Show to explain that her eating disorder fueled a 2018 relapse, describing how her old management team gave her watermelon with fat-free whipped cream every year on her birthday in lieu of cake. Lovato’s mother Dianna De La Garza wrote a bracingly revealing memoir of her own anorexia, depression, and substance use issues, Falling With Wings. The autobiography features anecdotes like the time Lovato texted her “I’m sorry ahead of time.” (De La Garza was somewhat relieved to learn this apology was merely in reference to Lovato physically attacking a backup dancer and not a suicide note. Lovato wrote the foreword to the book.) When Lovato finished her first attempt at rehab, triggered by the 2010 punching incident, she took the advice to give her first interview just three months after completing treatment. “It was too soon, in my opinion,” Lovato says now. “But nobody knew any better, because we were looking to people in the field for guidance.” “I just felt like here's someone who is so sweet, so nice and has obviously been through some shit,” Braun says. “And she made mistakes along the way, but also as a child was put in positions…” He doesn’t need to say what the positions were. To put herself into more advantageous situations, Lovato says, “I had to learn the hard way from ignoring my needs and wants for so many years.” Really, she says, she didn’t even know what those desires were. Self-destructive behavior was, Lovato says, “just doing something because I didn't know what to do.” Before quarantine, it was very difficult for me to cry. I had programmed the thought into my head when I was 16 that I'm only going to cry if people pay me to. 2020 was supposed to be Lovato’s post-relapse comeback year, beginning with the wrenching Grammys debut of torch single “Anyone” and her Super Bowl performance of the national anthem, both delivered in head-to-toe angelic white. Lovato acted opposite Will Ferrell in the June Netflix comedy Eurovision Song Contest, has been hired to host a Quibi interview show, and will release a four-part YouTube docu-series that promises to “show fans her personal and musical journey over the past three years.” Lovato had also planned to release her album and go on tour, endeavors that are now postponed until those kinds of droplet-spreading events are less potentially deadly. Now, Lovato’s project is Lovato. She is painting Hawaiian eucalyptus trees and Black Lives Matter-inspired portraits of George Floyd — “I'm kind of embarrassed about how that turned out because it doesn't look anything like him,” Lovato says, accurately — and working with a vast constellation of dietitians and coaches and spiritual advisers, one of whom she says warned her this pause was coming. “She was like, ‘Don't panic when your work stops. It's going to slow down drastically,’” Lovato says of the prophecy. “So I was kind of prepared in a weird way, and I just adapted. I think the universe — God — shifted that to happen in my life.” God recently re-entered Lovato’s life, courtesy of Braun, who took her to church for the first time in years this winter. Tears are another recent re-addition. "Before quarantine, it was very difficult for me to cry. I had programmed the thought into my head when I was 16 that I'm only going to cry if people pay me to." Now, Lovato says, “I started doing all this work, allowing myself to feel the pains of all the losses that I've had or the adversities or traumas that I've faced. I think my ability to be vulnerable and be more intimate with people has really heightened.” Loewe courtesy of Net-A-Porter dress; Jennifer Fisher ring; Lana Jewelry earrings. The pandemic has been a graceless slam on the brakes for everyone lucky enough to safely abstain from public life and quarantine with their existential problems. Lovato has experienced hard stops before, in the form of multiple rehab stays. But this is the first time the halt was not a reaction to her own behavior. It’s an opportunity instead of a rebuke. A chance to feel for herself, not for an audience or a paycheck. After acknowledging the sacrifices of frontline workers and expressing sympathy for the sick and dead, Lovato admits the time has been “really good” for her. “It's very common for people to only really work on themselves when crisis happens or when they notice that they're slipping into old patterns or behaviors,” Lovato says. “So to be able to walk into this experience without a personal crisis and just be like, I can do the work on myself now because I have the time. ... It was a beautiful thing.” As an added benefit, she says, “I wasn’t in rehab; I was outside in the world with Netflix. So when I was too tired of therapy, I'd put on Schitt's Creek.” (For those who haven’t experienced inpatient rehabilitation facilities, there’s generally no Wi-Fi there.) “I was given this opportunity,” Lovato says of quarantine. “And I was like, I'm going to adapt. I'm going to shift to this. I'm going to learn from it.” The day before we spoke, Lovato wrote a letter to her father. Though they never reconciled before his death, it was a love note, albeit a backhanded one. “I am who I am because of you,” Lovato wrote. “And I'm grateful for that. Because of your absence, I am an independent woman now. Because you were a pathological liar, I am honest to a fault.” Like many things Lovato says, the content of the statement feels at odds with its delivery: a deluge of raw truth relayed with the bright tone and smile of the former Disney star. Though Lovato had an eating disorder before she became famous, she says, “I kind of looked around and had a moment where I was like, ‘Wow. This is so terrifyingly normalized.’” So many beautiful people around her were grinning through self-abuse. Lovato’s exploits with substance use became increasingly well-documented, and when she got help, she wanted to both explain that the slender bodies people saw on TV were not “normal” and destigmatize the painful consequences of trying to look like that. “When I went to treatment in 2010,” Lovato says, “I came out of the experience with the choice of talking about my struggles or my journey with the possibility of helping people, or keeping my mouth shut and going back to Disney Channel. And I was like that doesn't feel authentic to me. So I chose to tell my story. And I had this, like, savior complex, where I thought, ‘Oh, I made this pact with God when I was young’” — in which Lovato would become a successful singer in exchange for doing His work — "and now I have to save people.” In 2013, Lovato published Staying Strong: 365 Days a Year, a New York Times best-selling book of anodyne daily wisdom like, “If you spend too much time living in the past, you aren’t able to live in the now. Make an effort to move forward today.” After procrastinating until just before her publisher’s deadline, Lovato wound up writing the book in what she describes as a matter of days. “But it was more people-pleasing than anything, and then I realized through all of that people-pleasing that I wasn't being authentic.” Earning praise for her relationship with recovery and rehabilitation was a way of “fueling those patterns that I had and that were bringing me to destruction,” Lovato says. “I think that's what you're hearing when you read back that book. … I binged on recovery, where I switched my addiction from the actual addictions to the recovery.” Now, Lovato tries to balance an impulse to expose with a refusal to flay herself doing so. “I have to set boundaries in interviews so I don't treat them like therapy sessions,” she says pointedly. “But I'm able to hear my progress through the words that I'm saying when I read them back.” You can see the impact of Lovato’s honesty in celebrity culture, and the need for continued public processing. It’s hard to imagine Taylor Swift revealing her own eating disorder in Netflix documentary Miss Americana without Lovato’s precedent. Meanwhile, Beyoncé was lauded for being transparent in the Netflix doc Homecoming about her disciplined Coachella rehearsal diet: “No bread, no carbs, no sugar, no dairy, no meat, no fish, no alcohol.” (Beyoncé perhaps needlessly clarified, “I’m hungry.”) Previously, Lovato says, “I would have prepared for something like Coachella or a photo shoot. I don't look like Beyoncé. But I can't risk my mental health because I have things in my history that Beyoncé doesn't or may not have. For me, it's a riskier thing.” Lovato’s friend Jameela Jamil met her more than a decade ago, when Lovato was a teenager and Jamil was a radio host. Jamil has watched Lovato navigate radical honesty as a celebrity and let it inspire her own activism around eating disorders and body image. “She is revolutionary in how open and forthcoming she is with her truth,” Jamil says. “It comes at huge cost and risk; once you open the door into your personal life, people feel entitled to you. And people project this savior complex onto you, which is impossible to maintain. “She takes on so much scrutiny and does it boldly in the name of making sure her fans aren’t harmed the way she was growing up,” Jamil continues. “Nobody else has done what she’s done. I can’t stress it enough when I tell people she’s a big part of where I drew strength to really start speaking my mind.” Jamil was motivated by Lovato to self-advocate, but Lovato says during that time, “Even though I had a big singing voice, I didn't have a big speaking voice for myself. I didn't express my needs… And then after a while of your needs and your wants being ignored, you burst.” To keep from bursting, Lovato needed to finally figure out what she wants. “I want a career that has nothing to do with my body,” she says, imagining the possibility of being neither an object nor a statement against objectification. “I want it to be about my music and my lyrics and my message. And I want a long-lasting career that I don't have to change myself for. Music brought me so much joy when I was younger, and I lost that joy throughout the hustle and bustle of the music industry. I got miserable. And I don't ever want it to be like that again. That’s what I want.” The question, then, is who Lovato is when she’s not experiencing trauma. Will she become a “normal” star instead of one constantly fighting the normalized standards of stardom? When a singer so publicly tied to her pain is happy and sober and at peace and with God, are the tragedies just bad things she experienced, or are they a part of her? “I don't think there's a correct answer to this question,” Lovato says slowly. “I know these things happened to me. They shaped me into who I am. So maybe it's a bit of both.” As Lovato says this, she lifts her right and left hands, palms open to all possibilities. She smiles. She's still afloat. Top image credit: Carolina Herrera pants; Totême courtesy of Farfetch tank; Zero + Maria Cornejo cardigan; Jennifer Fisher earrings; Jordan Road necklace. Video credit: Mara Hoffman dress; Olgana Paris shoes; Jennifer Fisher ring; Lana Jewelry earrings. Photographer: Angelo Kritikos Hair: Paul Norton Makeup: Rokael Lizama Manicurist: Natalie Minerva Stylist: Siena Montesano Set Designer: Kelly Fondry Art Director: Erin Hover Fashion Direction: Tiffany Reid Bustle followed current guidelines from the CDC and put measures in place to maximize the safety of our talent and crew. Read More Read the full article

[jobsearchtips02]

How the biggest business in the world are preparing to restore their labor force

Eventually, the most significant American companies are going to tell their employees it’s time to leave house and go back to work.

That decision will be stuffed with threat without widespread screening for the COVID-19 virus. For some markets, such as Wall Street banks, common screening is necessary to restoring their workforce to workplaces around the world. For other industries, such as automakers, strategies are currently being made to open factories in a couple of weeks, with Fiat Chrysler and Tesla both stating they anticipate to start production once again on May 4.

Other markets, especially retail, are looking to China for assistance. China’s economy has actually been slowly coming back online in recent weeks as the federal government lifts lockdown orders. As individuals begin shopping there again, sellers like Levi Strauss stated they’ll be looking at consumer practices and adjust accordingly as soon as stores open in the U.S. Other merchants are anticipating a velocity of the shift to online shopping as individuals are forced to purchase goods online during the lockdown. That’s bad news for shopping malls and other brick-and-mortar shops that will need to adapt to lower foot traffic.

How the U.S. will go from extensive quarantine to some form of typical is still a huge unidentified. However going back to work will almost certainly occur in waves, driven by customer demand and employer desperation, said Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Organisation.

” For some things need will snap back right away,” said Gordon. “Those jobs — dental experts, health care, barber shops — there’s a stockpile of demand. There’s a comparable classification, like dining establishments and bars, where people may be cooped up for so long that they’re desperate to go out to consume or get a drink. For other markets, the very same seriousness might not exist. It’s going to take a while for people to begin purchasing brand-new automobiles and brand-new homes. And for some industries, like retail and airlines, things might never ever return to normal.”

Employers’ back-to-work strategies will also depend upon geography, according to Peter Cappelli, a professor of management and director of The Wharton School’s Center of Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania. Companies in rural areas and suburbs that saw less verified cases of coronavirus and resulting deaths will have a simpler time persuading workers it’s safe to return to the office than cities such as New york city and New Orleans, he said.

The close quarters of city workplaces might add another barrier to city employers whose work spaces are not developed for social distancing.

” If you drum it into everybody’s heads that they must be 6 feet far from each other and then you return to a workplace and you remain in the cubicles or an open office strategy, in specific, that will be scary for people,” he stated.

Any go back to work effort will be a progressive procedure rather than setting a nationwide “return to the office” day, stated Gordon. Still, many business are already in a rush to get staff members back to work, Cappelli said. Corporate eagerness has actually only grown as companies see staff members’ efficiency dropping and their businesses “bleeding cash like insane.”

” When the restrictions are raised, if the states ever say ‘the quarantine is over,’ I do not believe we’re going to have a huge issue with individuals sitting on their hands,” Cappelli said. “We weren’t set up to do distance working. In the majority of places, we simply sent out people home and hoped for the best.”

Several obvious hurdles

One major constraint on any reopening will be child care. Moms and dads can’t return to work if schools and daycare aren’t open. Numerous educational facilities have actually currently proactively cancelled through the month of April, if not longer. With all schools making independent choices on reopening, it’s almost difficult to have actually a coordinated effort in the near term that’s not on a case-by-case, employee-by-employee basis.

Another is simply having enough knowledge about the spread of the disease, which comes down to testing as many people as possible.

” We need to start preparing, rebooting life,” New york city Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this week at a news conference. “We’re not there yet, however this is not a light switch that we can just snap one day and whatever returns to normal. We’re going to need to restart that economy. We’re going to have to restart a great deal of systems that we shut down quickly and we require to begin to prepare for that. My personal viewpoint: It’s going to boil down to how good we are with testing.”

Numerous state guvs talked Tuesday with Scott Gottlieb, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration, about strategies to get people back to work, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week

” I’m worried we do not have the systems in location to thoroughly reopen the economy,” Gottlieb told the Journal. “You require to be able to recognize people who are sick and have the tools to impose their isolation and[tracing of people they contact] You have to have it at a scale we have actually never ever done prior to. We require leadership.”

Former Wells Fargo CEO Penis Kovacevich informed CNBC staff members ought to begin returning after cities “bend the curve” on new cases. Kovacevich said when there’s evidence brand-new cases are decreasing rather than up, sick individuals must stay quarantined while individuals who have actually recuperated from the infection and others under 55 should return to work if they’re comfy with it. Social distancing in dining establishments and in the workplace ought to continue, he stated, however the nation should “see what kind of action we get” and assess the results.

But merely getting beyond the peak of cases should not be enough to get people back to work, stated Gordon. Rather, new cases will have to drop to nearly absolutely no for the general public to be comfortable returning to work and start purchasing from bars and restaurants, said Gordon.

Lawfully OK, reputationally doubtful

The tension between getting up and running as quickly as possible versus taking possibilities with the health of staff members is both an ethical and a legal quandry. Employers have a relatively low legal danger, but a high reputational one, if they rush individuals back to the workplace, said Jonathan Segal, an employment attorney at law firm Duane Morris who specializes in personnels and lessening companies’ legal and company risks.

Companies have a responsibility under the Occupational Security and Health Act to ensure they offer a safe work environment. But it will be difficult for a staff member, customer or customer to prove they were exposed to COVID-19 at the work environment, rather than the dry cleaner or grocery store, Segal stated.

In addition to certain industries reopening prior to others, business will likewise likely present staff members gradually back to the workplace, instead of bringing everyone back at once, Segal said. A gradual return would help keep social distancing in early days and would likewise offer companies time to need employees to complete health assessments or get evaluated, he stated. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released guidance in mid-March, stating it’s legal for companies to ask employees if they have signs of COVID-19, such as a cough or shortness of breath, and take their temperature level.

Companies that have actually been able to sustain with employees working from home might wish to extend those policies till workers are comfy returning on their own, Segal said.

” In the lack of an all-clear, workers might state, ‘I do not want to return to work and if I do, I desire that to be the exception not the guideline. I wish to be available in on Wednesday and sign what I need to sign and choose things up. I wish to be available in at 4 in the early morning,'” Segal stated.

CNBC spoke with executives and specialists in a range of industries to get a more particular keep reading return-to-work policies.

Here’s a picture of what they’ve stated:

Airline industry

Airline company industry executives are amongst the most pessimistic about going back to regular anytime soon, saying the existing crisis is even worse than what they experienced after 9/11 Airlines have decreased service by 60%or more, canceling worldwide paths and cutting practically all service in and out of New york city. Airline companies have actually likewise put hundreds of airplanes in storage since need stays mostly missing. About 40%of the world’s fleet of the world’s fleet of jetliners remained in use as of Tuesday, according to aviation-research company Cirium.

Service trips have ground to a stop since of the virus, problem for hotels and airlines that thrive on frequent travelers whose last-minute and flexible rates frequently bring a premium. Ninety-eight percent of companies have actually canceled global service travel and 92%have actually done the same for all or most domestic journeys, according to a study by Global Service Travel Association (GBTA) that was launched Wednesday.

” No one is going to offer the all clear unless it’s safe from a virus viewpoint,” said Scott Solombrino, COO and executive director of GBTA.

U.S. air carriers are applying for $25 billion in grants that Congress approved last month as part of its $2 trillion coronavirus relief plan, but executives are cautioning employees they still face difficulty and extended weak demand since of the pandemic and economic trouble. “I want I could predict this would end soon, but the truth is we simply don’t understand how long it will take before the infection is contained and consumers are ready to fly once again,” Delta‘s CEO Ed Bastian informed employees in a memo last week.

United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz and president Scott Kirby, who takes over in May, outlined their issues for staff members last month, stating “based upon how physicians expect the virus to spread out and how financial experts expect the global economy to react, we expect demand to stay reduced for months after that, possibly into next year. We will continue to prepare for the worst and hope for a quicker healing, but no matter what occurs, taking care of each of our people will stay our primary concern. That means being honest, fair and upfront with you: if the healing is as slow as we fear, it means our airline and our workforce will have to be smaller sized than it is today,” they composed.

Even when quarantines mostly end, a general economic slump will trigger consumers and companies to seek cheaper choices than flying, stated Gordon. Months of Zoom teleconference might encourage many big companies that business travel is merely unneeded, leading to sharp declines amongst airline’s greatest margin consumers.

” You have actually got companies sending armies of individuals from indicate point when we have teleconferencing and when most of what we’re taking a look at remains in easy-to-share digital type,” Gordon said. “The airline company market won’t snap back to anything like what it was — maybe ever.”

Automotive industry

Automakers could want to China for responses on how to securely reboot service activity in the U.S. While need for vehicles won’t bounce back quickly, unlike in other industries, factory workers have a clear summary on what it would require to go back to production. Carmakers and providers in China have actually executed protocols to ensure working conditions were safe to go back to for staff members. Aside from thoroughly cleaning and sterilizing workspace, there are new processes to keep workers more apart, consisting of when going into and exiting plants and workplaces.

Other efforts consist of all workers continuing to use masks, limiting in-person meetings and even taking staff member temperature levels when entering facilities.

Fiat Chrysler stated Wednesday the company has executed such procedures to “slowly and safely return” to operate in China for white-collar and blue-collar employees. The Italian-American automaker said previously today it plans to begin restarting its U.S. and Canadian plants on May 4 with extra procedures such as upgrading work stations to preserve correct social distancing and expanding cleansing protocols at all of its places.

” As a result of these actions, we will just reboot operations with safe, secure and sanitized workplaces to secure all of our employees,” the company said in an emailed statement, mentioning authorities have actually been dealing with federal government officials and unions on the treatments.

Tesla head of North American personnels Valerie Worker wrote an e-mail to employees Tuesday suggesting that the carmaker also planned to resume production of electrical automobiles at its Fremont, California automobile plant on Might 4, CNBC reported Tuesday.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said Tuesday that expectations are for the Motor City, a growing hot spot of COVID-19, to “lead the country in techniques in reopening companies.”

” We have a team working on go back to work,” he stated, pointing out a grant program for small businesses in the city and a program that enables the city to buy meals from regional restaurants to support them and give them to Detroit police, fire, EMS, and health care workers.

Banks and financial services

Unlike many markets, investment banks and other monetary services have had the ability to transition to an at-home workplace relatively smoothly. Almost all Goldman Sachs employees were working from home in about 2 weeks, according to an individual acquainted with the matter.

Financial investment banks and numerous other big American corporations will likely take their leads from health authorities, such as the Centers for Illness Control and Prevention Given that tests will likely be given first to anybody in close contact with ill clients, such as health employees, it may take months for rank-and-file Americans to get checked. Goldman remains in talk with purchase infrared body scanners to evaluate people coming into structures who are obviously ill. Temperature scanners are one method to check for fevers and illness and ought to likewise aid with the mental barrier of workers’ feeling safe at he workplace.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon composed in a letter to shareholders on Monday that returning to work can be accelerated if tests are made commonly offered that can determine if individuals have recovered and are now fairly immune from COVID-19

” Initially, we require a buffer period of days or weeks for individuals to be evaluated, and after that for those who evaluate negative for the infection, we require to discover whether infection antibodies appear through serology screening,” Dimon stated

Merchants brace for change in shopping habits

The retail industry is going through a seismic shift, with the coronavirus speeding up numerous trends that were currently happening before the crisis, albeit at a slower rate up until now.

Consumers’ routines are being improved, as they have more recently pivoted to stockpiling on basics. Stores offering apparel and other discretionary items have been temporarily shut, with numerous thousands of retail workers being furloughed.

When, and in some cases if, those brick-and-mortar shops reopen once again, they’ll be staffed in a different way to adjust to altering consumer practices. Consumers are now becoming more comfortable than ever shopping online, when it is the only option they have.

Countless shops across the nation, consisting of Gap, Macy’s, Apple and Nike, have been momentarily closed The most significant shopping mall owner in the U.S., Simon Property Group, has shut all of its shopping centers and outlet centers for the foreseeable future, furloughing 30%of its personnel Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald said he thinks retail shops will be closed since of the pandemic for longer in the U.S. than they remained in China, where COVID-19 came from. In China, the majority of Lululemon’s shops were only closed for two weeks prior to they began reopening, with consumers returning more gradually, the CEO informed CNBC earlier this month

” In the U.S. and Canada, we are going to be closed for a much longer amount of time. That will create a lot more pent-up demand,” McDonald stated.

In the interim duration, nevertheless, more individuals are going to be going shopping online, and those practices are going to stick, McDonald stated, calling this the “brand-new truth of retail.”

Levi Strauss CEO Chip Bergh informed CNBC earlier this week that the jeans maker remains in the midst of trying to gain from China, where consumers are returning to stores, what product people are looking for. This will direct the company in its production and marketing decisions.

” We are really attempting to learn from the reopening of stores in China,” he stated. “What are [shoppers] worried about when they come back to stores? What are they looking for?”

Nike has also stated it is using China as a “playbook“

Stalled by the coronavirus, another mall owner in the U.S. has actually already reworded the plan for its American Dream task, still in the works, in New Jersey. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic hitting the U.S., American Dream was slated to be a mix of 55%entertainment-related occupants and 45%sellers, when it was totally finished. Now, the job will be roughly 70%entertainment and 30%retail, designer Triple Five Group informed CNBC

” There is no doubt that when this is over, there will be retailers that were just making it along … attempting to endure. Those sellers that were on the bubble– I totally anticipate a number of those sellers to be gone,” said Don Ghermezian, co-CEO of American Dream. “They can not deal with having no earnings can be found in,” he said.

” And a few of them are furloughing. It is a really tough time. I fully anticipate there will be records set for sellers’ closing[in 2020] This infection has actually exacerbated that circumstance. A lot of merchants aren’t going to reopen.”

ENJOY: We ought to bring individuals back to work when the curve is bent: Former Wells Fargo CEO

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from Job Search Tips https://jobsearchtips.net/how-the-biggest-business-in-the-world-are-preparing-to-restore-their-labor-force/

[betweenandbeloved]

Let There Be.

In this time of social distancing, I am spending time working from home reading books and engaging with scripture. It’s part personal time for reflection and education, but it’s also a time for me to expand my knowledge so that I may pass it on to you in one way or another in the years to come.

Today I decided to start at the very beginning (a very good place to start). I have read the creation story so many times. As a child it was always where I started when I read my picture Bible because it had the best pictures. I came back to it as a young adult when I read the whole Bible cover to cover (if you’re really in need of something to do during COVID-19, I highly recommend wrestling through that task). I read it over and over as I began my seminary studies, wrestling with the fact that there is not one creation story but two - right from the beginning, our sacred text has two, slightly contradicting stories about creation.  Right from the beginning, we are called to question and wrestle with faith and sacred text as something that can’t be written in stone and deem to be accurate and true without question. 

Instead, we are reminded that our sacred scripture should guide our faith and influence it, and that wrestling with these stories is part of the journey.

As I read through Genesis 1: 1-31 and 2:1-4 (the first creation story), something different stood out to me. It is written over and over again with each part of creation.

Let there be.

My NRSV Lutheran Study Bible (courtesy of the 2009 National Youth Gathering in New Orleans), reads as follows “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light;’ and there was light.” (Genesis 1:1-3).

Something about this paragraph really grabbed me today. In the midst of a formless void of darkness, God was there. Then God went on to create something out of nothing using the words “let there be.”

God does it again and again creating something out of nothing, and more out of something, until the world was created with all of its marvel and beauty - that even, billions of years later, we are still discovering.

vs. 6: “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters”

vs. 9: “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place”

vs. 14: “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky”

vs. 20: “Let the waters bring form swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky”

vs. 24: “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind”

vs. 26: “Let us make humankind”

Out of nothing, God created.

Out of nothing, we can create too.

During this time of social distancing, where many feel isolated, lonely, trapped, and are looking for something to do, I challenge you to remember that God is with you. God created out of a formless void of darkness, and with the help of God, we can find ways to create new life in our time and place.  None of this is easy, but we are not alone. Not only are we blessed with technology and resources to help us stay in touch with one another, but know that God is with you each and every step of the way.

After our live-streamed church service on Sunday morning, I saw a comment from one of our families that said “My child asked us ‘So God is in our house? How does [God] get everywhere so fast?’” That is the beautiful mystery of our God - that God is always with us. How amazing is it, that after creating everything in the world, God created you and said “the world needs you too.”

Let there be.

Let there be healing to those who are sick.

Let there be strength and guidance to those working in the medical field and who are at the frontlines of the epidemic.

Let there be patience to those stuck at home with family members.

Let there be community to those who are alone and those who need connection.

Let there be creativity in each of your lives as you figure out how to live into this new norm of social distancing.

Let there be God.

(Artwork I absolutely LOVE) Let There  Be Print by Lauren Wright Pittman