It is not news to anyone reading this: working in a library is hard. Doing any kind of public-facing customer service work is always hard, and right now a lot of things are coming together to make it more complicated.

We can’t fix that for you. Sorry.

But this semester, we are going to provide small weekly stress-management/happiness builder ideas. They aren’t going to make all your issues magically solve themselves. But, everyone can use a reminder to take a step back and breathe.

Meditation is trendy right now. Maybe that inspires you to try it, maybe it makes you think it’s stuff for kids or internet people.

But meditation is old, very old – yes, older than that. So, it’s not really trendy; it’s part of our human history. Feel free to explore it in your own way.

There are several meditation apps, and that number probably grows regularly. There are meditation videos. There are calm, relaxing videos.

Pick up one of them. Or don’t bother and just wing it.

Remember a few weeks ago when we talked about breathing? Do that. Focus on a specific idea you want to see, or just let your mind be blank. Or sit quietly. Stare at a candle (or an LED flame), or at a campfire, or a picture of an ocean, or a blank wall.

Spend 30 seconds. Spend five minutes. Spend an hour. Whatever you did today, try it a little bit longer tomorrow or next week.

The idea is to give your brain some silence. Your brain has almost no silence over the course of the day, and the more you can bring that silence to your brain the happier and better functioning your brain will be for the rest of the day.

Let your brain feel that calm. You don’t have to be perfect at it, just try it. Things will be a little better, and they will continue on that path.