I'm Jocelyn K. Gly, and this is Hurry Slowly.

When I wrapped up the third season of this podcast in January of this year,

I wasn't sure if I would be welcoming you back for a fourth season.

I was burnt out, and it wasn't 100% clear to me what the mission of the podcast would be

moving forward. But now we're entering this incredibly strange, totally unique moment,

where we're beginning to emerge into the world, like vulnerable little newborns,

after over a year of seclusion.

And it seems to me that if we just take the name of this podcast at face value,

this is most certainly a time to think about hurrying slowly,

because we have so much to integrate, so much, from what we've all been through in the past year.

And that's where I want to start today, to just crystallize the scope and sheer vastness of the shift that we're currently moving through and how different our perspectives and our

situations are.

Some folks have continued to be out and about in the world throughout most of the

pandemic, going to the coffee shop, doing the grocery shopping, going to the dog park, doing our

regular routines, but in a slightly adapted, safer, more masked way. Others have been in deep seclusion the entire time,

having everything delivered,

hardly setting foot in a public indoor space for over a year.

Still others haven't had the luxury of seclusion

and have worked right through this pandemic.

Their work too essential

to be allowed to change their routines. Some of us have experienced deep loss and are grieving.

Some of us have experienced a profound awakening. Some of us got into a groove as a result of

...