I was talking with students about how it seemed to me that folks at Yale were adapting to the shocking reality of being back in person after our long exile in one of two ways: 1. By wanting to make up for lost time by being super-energized and doing twice as much; or 2. Feeling drained of all energy by the ongoing pandemic, the changing rules, social anxiety, etc. I asked which was true for them and the students said: both! Through the pandemic, we chaplains emphasized to everyone how important it was to feel what you were feeling, to accept it, and to work with it, instead of self-judgment or imposed expectations. Now in this weird in between time, I wonder if the temptation is even stronger to say how we “should” be responding, or what is “normal.” But I’m reminded that we’re re-building the Yale experience together brick-by-brick and it will never again be what it was. So it’s OK to be up today and down tomorrow. It’s OK to be unmotivated today and pumped tomorrow. This is the reality we have been given; and God invites us to live into it with grace, acceptance and, yes, hope.