Hello all, The ABA team—I’ve stopped using the word staff; this is truly a team—has been working diligently these past couple of weeks. They are a passionate, hard working, committed group of individuals who truly love your stores and books. Like you, many of us are feeling vulnerable, anxious, and isolated. With that in mind, I wanted to share a bit about how we’re taking care of one another and offer some resources for your own self-care, mental health, sense of community, and support. I encourage you to send this note along to your team so they can follow along with ABA’s efforts and ideas for self-care. We’re all working from home now as Westchester County, where the ABA office is located, is the center of a significant outbreak. So we begin each day with an email from me to connect us and start our day. At noon, we have a 30-minute virtual lunch break on Google Hangouts for whoever has time to attend, and it’s a No Work Zone. The intention is to take a break, make sure we eat, make each other laugh, and be together. I’m also trying to promote an Instagram Live dance party each day, though so far this idea hasn’t had a lot of takers except for me and my wonderful husband, Jeff, who is now also my “officemate.” The point is that it’s busy and heavy right now and we don’t have our usual support systems available. Making time to connect as human beings has proven to be important self-care and in the best interest of keeping us productive and focused on our mission of supporting all of you during this crisis and ensuring we all get to the other side, together. We’ve compiled a list of mental health resources and tips for members. I hope they help you all take care of yourselves through this crisis, and help you take care of one another. Please share this with your staff, your family, your friends — anyone who may benefit from these suggestions. I’ve been thinking about how support and self-care looks different for different people. I’ve also been thinking about how this crisis affects each community differently, and how my own experience of the crisis is colored by privilege, something we can all be mindful of as we look to support those around us during this time: Perhaps the most important tip I can pass along right now is to laugh. (I’d tell you my one joke, but I’m afraid it won’t be the same on paper. Picture penguins in the back of a car on the way to the beach and you’ll get a good glimpse and perhaps a chuckle.) Read something funny. Watch something funny. Laugh with each other. In these days of social distancing, I think of what Gina Barreca wrote in her book They Used to Call Me Snow White... But I Drifted: Women’s Strategic Use of Humor, “Laughing together is as close as you can get without touching.” With things changing so quickly, and with booksellers across the country all trying their hardest to manage these massive, unanticipated shifts in life, ABA is encouraging all booksellers to drop in for a “COVID Coffee Break with Colleagues.”
These open forums, held via Zoom every Tuesday and Thursday from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, offer a place to share what you need, what you’re struggling with, questions for ABA, advice you’re seeking from other booksellers — or it’s simply a place to chat with another friendly face. Join the Zoom calls here; the meeting ID is 749 778 583. We’ll see you on Tuesday. That said, ABA is also here for you. Please reach out if there is anything we can help with. We are an incredibly creative, resilient, supportive industry. We’ll get through this, together. Best,
Allison |
