Masawa Minute 7
This is really hard — and that’s ok | Spoon Rooms | + More!
This is the Masawa Minute, a snippet of what we’re consuming in the areas of mental wellness, social impact, and impact investing.
And wow, the heavens above and below have certainly given us a lot of mental health and impact to consider in these past few weeks! At Masawa, in these change-is-hard times, we keep it focused on the following:
“Get it right, now, so that when it’s time, we’re far better off than before.”
💔 First, feel it: grief
It’s all we can think about, consuming most of what we do. So much change in so little time. So much destruction — societal, economic, mental, physical.
So how can we not only get through this, but come out stronger and more determined? First, we need to take a moment to acknowledge what we’re feeling. And for most of us, the root feeling is grief. Grief that’s causing anxiety, depression, ruminitions, and monkey minds.
This nice article in the Harvard Business Review helps frame what it is we’re experiencing and how to prepare for the future. [Thanks, Christian!]
That Discomfort You’re Feeling Is Grief
👀 Now, let’s keep it in check
Our minds are powerful things. And ensuring that we keep our minds in check during these tumultuous times is crucial. As Ben Okri writes in this piece, the virus is a mental contagion that can easily get out of hand. When this pandemic is over, as it will eventually be, we’ll look back on not only how we survived, but how we prepared ourselves for what came next. It won’t have been beneficial to fret, frown, frab, or freg. [but making up new words helps.]
So get real good at feeling all the feelings, acknowledging them, observing them, creating stories about their lives. Share those stories on social media. Use the hashtag #realfeelings. [Ha!]
Fear of Covid-19 is a mental contagion — and that’s something we can fight
🤦♀️ Mental illness is now realer
Before COVID-19, mental illness, specifically depression, was the leading cause of disability worldwide! [Holy Moly.] And after COVID-19, mental illness will still be the leading cause of disability worldwide. [Shocker, we know.] And now that some 83% of young people in the UK are feeling negative impacts on their mental health, one of the few good things this damn virus will do is to help shed light on the mental illness epidemic [pandemic by the time we’re done?… ].
UK poll finds young people’s mental health hit by coronavirus
🦑 Cute animals are back.
Because we need them now more than ever.
Cute baby animals videos compilation
🥄 Craft New Communities with Spoons
Social distancing is a misnomer. We’re physical distancing, which causes social distancing, the opposite of healthy. We’re communal creators and [most of us] enjoy the company of others.
And now, it’s hard to stop thinking about yourself, your family, and your specific world. One way to work on getting it right, now, is to increase our compassion and true interactions with people we don’t necessarily know.
The team at Comorados, which BC19 (before COVID-19) set up Public Living Rooms, has joined forces with Conscious-U to create Spoon Rooms in which strangers from around the world digitally come together to simply be, together. There’s much beauty in waving silly spoons around with people you’ve never met. [Thanks, Nadja!]
“Join the Big Spoon Room on Saturdays @ 11:00 GMT”
✨ Masawa Update
What a time we live in.
We’ve learned a lot in the past weeks about the power of pragmatism. We’re humbled by the realization that there’s now even more need for Masawa. While we’re powering on with the investment fund, we’re also working on two contributing projects:
— Masawa Match (in development) is a resource site to find therapists, coaches, and others to improve their mental wellness and productivity, and hopefully find a little levity. These resources could include digital therapy, coaching, websites, apps, performances, or virtual dance parties + many more. [Thanks, Florian + Thomas!]
— The Masawa Maxim (in development) is a podcast series to highlight innovations in mental wellness technology, approaches, and models. We decided to make a podcast primarily because everyone else is doing it + we have FOMO. [Thanks, Scott!]
✌️ In Closing
Like the Masawa Minute? Show your support by forwarding it to people who also care.
Give someone a big [virtual] hug today + take care of each other! 🤗😘
Joshua Haynes
Joshua is the Founder and Managing Partner of Masawa. He believes that investing in mental wellness, focusing on maximizing positive social impact, and founders’ mental health, and supporting their resilient organizations makes sense for society and for business.
