The Slowdown is supported by the Collective Trauma Summit.

You're invited to attend a free online event featuring in-depth interviews and poetry readings

by eight award-winning poets, including Ada Lemone, Natasha Trethway, Jericho Brown,

Carolyn Forshey, Andrea Gibson, Claudia Ranking, Jake Skeets, and Padreco Tuma.

They will all be appearing at the Collective Trauma Summit,

an online gathering of artists, activists, scientists, and visionaries

to explore the effects of trauma in our society, and to inspire a collective healing movement.

Go to CollectiveTraumaSummit.com slash poets to register for the free event which starts September

26. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Life can be overwhelming when my calendar is filled to

the brim. It's hard to concentrate on anything else. My thoughts are constantly racing with

a never-ending to-do list until I remember what therapy taught me to slow down and be present.

If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online and

suited for business schedules like mine. Get a break from your thoughts with BetterHelp.

Visit BetterHelp.com slash slowdown today and get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp.

H-E-L-P dot com slash slowdown.

I'm Major Jackson, and this is the slowdown.

Late one evening, sirens blared while my wife and I slept. This happened shortly after we

moved to Nashville. I merely turned over, but she shook me until I awoke, dazed, not really sure

what was going on. Her voice firm and steady, she said, come on, let's go, scrambling with blankets

behind us down the stairs, I fumbled, what's going on? Where? She yelled behind her, tornado warning

to the basement. At least she knew that much to go to the lowest point in the house.

I probably would have crawled beneath the bed and fallen back asleep.

...