I’m aware that you are aware of the stories of chaos and pain and destruction that fill our newsfeeds and our conversations.

The question “Did you hear about?” is followed by names of friends as often as international disasters, by celebrities and coworkers, by stories of violence from a thousand years and three hours ago. In the last 24 hours, I shared a resource with a friend and with the daughter of a patient. I’ll avoid watching a TV show full of violence tonight, having seen a news story of the killing of nurses just like the nurses I see every shift.

It’s hard.

And it’s hard to sort through all the feelings stimulated by fictionalized facts and factualized fictions, and true texts from people we love.

So pick one.

Rather than worrying about all the issues, all the possibilities, all the drama in all the places, pick one to attend to. And then make a list of the one thing that you can do next that might help you not worry as much.

• It could be asking God really specifically about what that one person needs that could help them.
• It could be asking people what they found helpful when they were grieving so you can do more of that.
• It could be taking a nap.
• It could be taking a time-out from every conversation that starts with “Did you hear about” and ends with someone you will never meet and who couldn’t care less about you.
• It could be leaning in with love and practical help to every conversation that starts with “Did you hear about” and ends with the name of a friend.
• It could be sorting back through emails from three weeks ago to find the name of the friend who needed encouragement and offering it again.

One thing.