Rene Colson Hudson on Fighting the Widespread Phenomenon of Pandemic Fatigue

03/26/21 • 29 min

Today, Debbie talks to Rene Colson Hudson, executive director of the Healthy Island Project on Deer Isle, Maine. The two of them delve into something that many are grappling with right now: pandemic fatigue. Or burnout or the pandemic wall, or whatever you want to call it. Debbie recently asked the question on her Facebook page: "Are you suffering from pandemic fatigue?" She was surprised by the several dozen responses she got saying, "Why, yes, I am!" Which got her to thinking. Even with vaccines becoming readily available for anyone of any age, in many states - a cause for celebration - many continue to feel weary and depleted by this long year and the sameness of our days.

That includes Debbie who also admits that she is suffering from crankiness and impatience. So she went looking for a little pep talk. Rene has been at the center of COVID relief efforts on Deer Isle over the past 12 months, overseeing a lunch and dinner program that serves over 100 elderly residents every week. The Healthy Island Project is a nonprofit that focuses on improving community health and that brings together a cross section of Stonington / Deer Isle, Maine residents. The organization has grown fivefold since the beginning of the pandemic. Money has come pouring in from supporters, Rene told Debbie, and she is busier than ever.

Rene moved full-time from New Jersey to Deer Isle five years ago. She is an ordained minister and has studied leadership and contemplative practices. And she offers both a practical and a soulful approach to thinking about pandemic fatigue. She reminds us to be more mindful of the little things, to practice gratitude, and to find ways to help others. As an example, the Healthy Island Project put Debbie in touch with an elderly gentleman who, without an Internet connection or a computer, needed help making a vaccine appointment. He and Debbie became phone buddies. She and Rene reflect on how gratifying such a small act can be.

What they talked about:

Rene’s definition of pandemic fatigue: she emphasizes the word "sameness"
Why there is a strong sense of fatigue now, even as things are starting to look up
What Rene misses most about traveling
How Rene sees pandemic fatigue in the community: the toll it's taking on high schoolers and on elderly residents
The importance of awareness and mindfulness of the little things
The practice of gratitude and the adventure of going nowhere
Rene’s antidote to pandemic fatigue: serving others

Mentioned in this episode or useful:

Rene Colson Hudson
Healthy Island Project | A nonprofit enhancing the health of Deer Isle
Deer Isle, Maine
We Have All Hit a Wall: Confronting Late Stage Pandemic Burnout by Sarah Lyall (NYTimes, April 2, 2021)
It's not just you: why everyone is super exhausted right now by Nicole Karlis (Salon, March 18, 2021)
Hitting Your Pandemic Wall? You're Certainty Not Alone by Erin Bunch (Well + Good, Feb. 3, 2021)
Pico Iyer: The Art of Stillness (TED Talk)
How to Write a Gratitude Letter (New York Times, Feb. 27, 2021)
14 Fixes for Pandemic Monotony (The Atlantic, Feb. 24, 2021)

Note from Debbie

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What they talked about:

Rene’s definition of pandemic fatigue: she emphasizes the word "sameness"
Why there is a strong sense of fatigue now, even as things are starting to look up
What Rene misses most about traveling
How Rene sees pandemic fatigue in the community: the toll it's taking on high schoolers and on elderly residents
The importance of awareness and mindfulness of the little things
The practice of gratitude and the adventure of going nowhere
Rene’s antidote to pandemic fatigue: serving others

Mentioned in this episode or useful:

Rene Colson Hudson
Healthy Island Project | A nonprofit enhancing the health of Deer Isle
Deer Isle, Maine
We Have All Hit a Wall: Confronting Late Stage Pandemic Burnout by Sarah Lyall (NYTimes, April 2, 2021)
It's not just you: why everyone is super exhausted right now by Nicole Karlis (Salon, March 18, 2021)
Hitting Your Pandemic Wall? You're Certainty Not Alone by Erin Bunch (Well + Good, Feb. 3, 2021)
Pico Iyer: The Art of Stillness (TED Talk)
How to Write a Gratitude Letter (New York Times, Feb. 27, 2021)
14 Fixes for Pandemic Monotony (The Atlantic, Feb. 24, 2021)

Note from Debbie

Connect with...

Previous Episode

Maine Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum on Loss, Love, Preciousness, and Celebrating the Ordinary Moment

Today, Debbie Weil has a conversation with Maine’s Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum. Whether or not you're a fan of reading or writing poetry, you won't want to miss this episode. Stuart tells stories in his soothing, often humorous style, including what led him to decide to become a poet and how he fell in love with Maine. They talk about listening to poems read aloud and how that slows time down and creates a moment of community. They also talk about his process of discovery when he is writing poems.

The topics they touch on: community and connection, love and loss, grief and creativity are relevant to this pandemic gap year.

Stuart is the author of five collections of poems, most recently Things Seemed to Be Breaking (Deerbrook Editions 2021), and a collection of essays The View from Here (Brynmorgen Press). He was the director of the internationally renowned Haystack Mountain School of Crafts from 1988 until 2015. He was the host of Maine Public Radio’s popular program Poems from Here, where each week he read aloud a poem by a Maine author. He hosted/curated the podcast Make/Time and he is the host/curator of a soon-to-be-released podcast, Voices of the Future, a series of conversations with a dozen young Maine writers about their writing and their lives. This 12-episode podcast is his last project as Maine’s Poet Laureate as his five-year tenure, sadly, is coming to an end in 2021.

He also reads two of his poems on this episode, including one of Debbie's favorites, Starting the Subaru at Five Below. As former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser has written: “Stuart Kestenbaum writes the kind of poems I love to read, heartfelt responses to the privilege of having been given a life. No hidden agendas here, no theories to espouse, nothing but life, pure life, set down with craft and love.”

See below for links to Stuart’s poetry collections, his podcasts, stage performances and more. He writes and speaks widely on craft-making and creativity. His poems and writing have appeared in numerous small press publications and magazines including Tikkun, The Sun, The Beloit Poetry Journal, The New York Times Magazine, and on the Writer’s Almanac and American Life in Poetry.

This was a wonderful conversation.

Mentioned in this episode or useful:

Stuart Kestenbaum

Poems from Here with Maine Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum, on Maine Public Radio

For final project, Maine poet laureate puts out podcast featuring young writers by Bob Keyes, Portland Press-Herald, March 7, 2021

Words of Gratitude From Maine, New York Times, Nov. 25, 2020

Make/Time Podcast

Starting the Subaru at Five Below by Stuart Kestenbaum

Amen, Stuart's poem selected by Naomi Shihab Nye for the New York Times, Jan. 2, 2020

Sometime during eternity... by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking by Walt Whitman

Professor Fred Wagner

Stuart Kestenbaum's talk at Maine Live about his brother Howard who died in the Twin Towers on 9/11

Susan Webster: Stuart’s wife and collaborator on art & writing:

Next Episode

Island Women Speak About Their Pandemic Year

One of the biggest "gaps" for Debbie this past year was the absence of Island Women Speak, the multi-generational women’s storytelling event she has produced and directed on Deer Isle, Maine.

For the past three winters, on a cold January night, seven local women representing seven decades from 20s to 80s have bravely stepped on stage to tell revealing five-minute stories about their lives, in the tradition of Moth storytelling. The other half of the storytelling equation is the audience: packed into Stonington, Maine’s historic Opera House theatre for warmth and intimacy, their presence has never failed to create a safe space for storytelling.

It has been a special evening that this community has talked about for weeks and months afterwards. It's meant so much to Debbie to work with these extraordinary women and to help make the event happen.

Well, it was NOT to be in January 2021.

So she decided to invite three past performers onto the show, representing three different decades (or teams), to get their differing perspectives on this pandemic year and to offer a taste of the intimacy and wisdom that the audience has loved in the past. In this short episode, you’ll hear from three women about loneliness and uncertainty but also about resilience and perseverance, the sturdy outlook on life that is typical of Mainers.

Representing Team 30 is Amanda Larrabee who is a landscaper and mother of a teenager. For Team 50 is Becky Siebert who has served the community for decades as a nurse. And for Team 80 is Lorraine Knowlton, a retired minister. All three are lifelong residents of Deer Isle, Maine, the remote coastal community that Debbie now calls home.

Debbie asks each of them a series of questions about their pandemic year:

What has been most challenging for you?

What is your NEW BEST THING that has come out of this year?

What do you want more of?

This has been a year of loss, but has it been a lost year for you?

Tune into this short episode to hear three women, three generations, and three perspectives on the ways we've all experienced this past year and how we are looking ahead.

Watch videos of their Island Women Speak performances:

Mentioned in this episode or useful: