We are all living in a world we’ve never had to navigate before. People’s jobs are in flux, others are working from home, and anxiety is a regular part of our lives. Through all the chaos, Jesse Averna has been a calming voice on social media, so postPerspective reached out to ask him to address our readership directly.

Jesse, who was co-founder of the popular Twitter chat and Facebook group @PostChat, works at Disney Animation Studio and is a member of the American Cinema Editors.

Hey,

How are you doing? This isn’t an ad. I’m not going to sell you anything or try to convince you of anything. I just want to take the opportunity to check in. Like many of you, I’m a post professional (an editor) currently working from home. If we don’t look out for each other, who will? Please know that it’s okay not to be okay right now. I have to be honest, I’m exhausted. I’m just endlessly reading news and searching for new news and reading posts about news I’ve already read and searching again for news I might have missed …

I want to remind you of a couple things that I think might bring some peace, if you let me. I fear it’s about to get much darker and much scarier, so we need to anchor ourselves to some hope.

You are valuable. The world is literally different because you are here. You have intrinsic value, and that will never change. No matter what. You are thought about and loved, despite whatever the voice in your head says. I’m sure your first reaction to reading that is to blow it off, but try to own it. Even for just a moment. It’s true.

You don’t deserve what’s going on, but let it bring some peace that the whole world is going through it together. You might be isolated, but you’re not alone. We are forced to look out for one another by looking out for ourselves. It’s interesting; I feel so separate and vulnerable, but the truth is that the whole planet is feeling and reacting to this as one. We are in sync, whether we know it or not — and that’s encouraging to me. We ALL want to be well and be safe, and we want our neighbors to be well also. We have a rare moment of feeling like a people, like a planet.

If you are feeling anxious, do me a favor tonight. Go outside and look at the stars. Set a timer for five minutes. No entertainment or phone or anything else. Just five minutes. Reset. Feel yourself on a cosmic scale. Small. A blink of an eye. But so, so valuable.

And please give yourself a break. A sanity check. If you need help, please reach out. If you need to nest, do it. You need to tune out, do it. Take care of yourself. This is an unprecedented moment. It’s okay not to be okay. Once you can, though, see who you can help. This complete shift of reality has made me think about legacy. This is a unique legacy-building moment. That student who reached out to you on LinkedIn asking for advice? You now have time to reply. That nonprofit you thought about volunteering your talents to? Now’s your chance. Even just to make the connection. Who can you help? Check in on? You don’t need any excuse in our current state to reach out.

I know I’m just some rando you’re reading on the internet, but I believe you are going to make it through this. You are wonderful. Do everything you can to be safe. The world needs you. It’s a better place because you are here. You know things, have ideas to share and will make things that none of the rest of us do or have.

Hang in there, my friends, and let me know if you have any thoughts, encouragements or tips for staying sane during this time. I’ll try to compile them into another article to share.

Jesse
@dr0id

Jesse Averna  — pictured on his way to donate masks — is a five-time Emmy-winning ACE editor living in LA and working in the animation feature world.