The times we are living in are precarious to say the least. For many, it has been downright polarizing. Everyone is grappling with uncertainty and so many people are struggling with something we’ve never really talked about before – mental health. I suppose it’s always been there, we just never talked about it in the African American community like we are now.

In my community, we often made jokes about that family member who lived in the “spare” room in our home, rarely engaged with the family on a regular basis, and was served meals by someone delivering a plate of food to the room, or by leaving a tray outside the door. You see examples of my family’s experience depicted in various African American movies. In our family, it was my grandfather’s first cousin, affectionately known as Uncle Leroy. Maybe my parents and grandparents knew he had mental health issues, but for us kids, we were entertained by the few times we would run into him walking, while talking out loud to himself, when we were heading to the neighborhood playground. If you know like I do, now, mental health is no laughing matter.

In my work, I’m concerned about the mental and emotional health of my entire organization, and include them in my daily petitions to God to protect my family and save the world. I talk with my sons regularly. While we briefly discuss the state of our nation, our conversations are primarily filled with good things – all of the things we’re grateful for now, and our hopes and plans for good things to come. We share group text messages of quotes, songs, videos or other inspirational and funny things, and we’re genuinely happy and optimistic about the future. This way of coping for us is no different now, then when they were young.

When tough times came in our lives, I would tell them to imagine themselves as a ship in the middle of the ocean being tossed around in a storm and there was a huge anchor holding them down and in place until the storm passed. I explained the anchor was God and it signaled hope. The important thing was to focus on the good thing(s) in your life until the storm was over. I say there is always something good to hold on to, providing us with hope for the future. For me, when times are hard, my boys are a constant place of happiness, gratitude, and hope.

As I scroll through social media from time-to-time, I see people who are navigating these times from a place of fear, and those with optimism expressing bouts of guilt or apologizing for feeling genuinely happy about the good things that are happening in their lives despite the pandemic. I almost fell into this space of suppressing my joy.

There’s no need to feel guilty or apologize for being happy. These signs of hope show us, and others, that God is still there to help guide us through life’s challenges. There’s no right or wrong way to live through these times – we simply have no point of reference. However, there is a promise of hope that’s been there for us since the beginning of time and can serve to help with our state of mind.