Holding Tension

My jaw has been hurting. My days are filled with staring at a computer screen of talking heads, and thinking about what life is going to look like in the days, weeks, and months to come. It’s a black hole.

Like many, there are family, work, and personal responsibilities that all intertwine. There aren’t any easy answers, and so my jaw hurts.

Tap dancers are known to hold tension in their bodies, especially while learning. We have nicknames for the multitude of unconscious contortions we find ourselves in. Hands form the shape of claws or guns, while arms lock in the form of T-Rex- or stiff-arms. It’s comical.

The trick for the tap dancer is to give that part of their body something to do. If the hand or arm has a another job, it has to move, and can’t hold the tension. Naturally the tension tries to find another place to sit. Then we’re playing Whack-a-mole, until our entire body is engaged and the tension has to release.

Maybe in these times, one thing we can to do is keep moving. Not in the manic-must-produce-my-entire-content-library-and-clean-my-house-today way, but in a paced and steady and perceptive way. Then as the tension builds, as it undoubtedly will, we can adjust our movements (we can whack the mole) before it becomes debilitating.