Have you ever walked into a room and felt like something was really off? Then you get paranoid and wonder what the heck is going on? Professors probably sense this more than anyone. (Are my students crazy?) 

Or maybe the energy is off the walls slaphappy and you don’t know what to do with yourself. Yesterday, I had this incredible conversation about having the possibility of seeing the energy flowing between people and throughout the room. What if?

I suppose that would be a little bit of an emotional intelligence cheat, but we would respond so much better in social situations (or, at least, I would hope so… but, yet again, there might be people who manipulate that tool). I really wish I could see energies between people at work. Is there tension? Can I help? Can I help buffer? Where can I make the environment smoother? 

Think about this: we have social distanced for months, many of us have stayed home the majority of that time with limited social interactions. Are you more or less keen to social cues because of that extensive time frame? I find myself being more aware of others and their feelings because I was stuck by myself for like two months. So many learning lessons are coming from this pandemic, I don’t think I can name half of them. 

One of the columnists, Gracie Rechkemmer, released a piece today on mental health throughout the last six months. It’s been stressful, concerning and straight up exhausting. Trust me, I understand that aspect more than I’d like to admit. 

Let’s make a few goals this week together: 

1. Acknowledge mental health is in the gutter this year
2. Be supportive for anyone and everyone, even if they don’t expressively have these concerns

Easy, peasy. Two goals. 

I have felt two types of energies these past few weeks back at work as well: 1) uber happy or 2) very, very sad. Neutrals don’t seem to exist this year. Let’s take this in stride and be there for others. You never know who might pray to God that night and thank you for your support.