A DIFFERENT WORLD RELAX RELATE RELEASE PROFESSIONAL

In the midst of dealing with that, we would be remiss if we didn't recognize the need for flexibility and welcome it. We are facing a situation that is out of our control at the moment. Relax expectations or timelines that don’t align with this current season. We often burn the midnight oil or work until exhaustion in an attempt to juggle our numerous obligations and get things accomplished. Relaxing is something that Americans do not do well, or do not have the luxury of doing, as members of a work-centered, capitalistic society. Each directive affords us a game plan to realign and to regain mental clarity.

Although Whitley’s therapy session scene was comical in nature, the charge to Relax, Relate, and Release can be applicable even during trying times such as these. One key piece of advice given to Whitney in that episode, which has subsequently reverberated throughout pop culture to this day, was to “Relax, Relate, and Release”. On one particular episode, one of the main characters, Whitley Gilbert, visits a therapist, played by Debbie Allen, to be counseled through her current conflicts. If you are anything like me, you hold an appreciation for the beloved 80’s sitcom, A Different World, which chronicles students’ lived experiences at fictitious HBCU, Hillman College. To personally combat fear and anxiety, I have been intentional about seeking uplifting and encouraging words to foster calmness and discerned it to be an opportune time to seek to offer a few to our Ebonies as well.

We are living during the global novel coronavirus pandemic, which has threatened our way of life and spawned feelings of uncertainty, anxiousness and even fear among us all.

A DIFFERENT WORLD RELAX RELATE RELEASE PROFESSIONAL

If you would have told me this time last month, that all gatherings whether social or professional would be vehemently discouraged, that schools along the educational pipeline would be closed for an extended period of time, that majority of the workforce would be transitioned to remote operations, that our healthcare systems would be rapidly inundated, and that toilet paper, hand sanitizer and Lysol spray would be scarce, I would not have believed you.

A different world relax relate release