What to Do When Your Friends Are in Crisis Mode

It’s a little hard to admit, but to be bluntly honest: I’m not doing very well. This is surprising after a year of the Corona crisis. I feel like 50% of my time I have to invest to stay a little sane, which means a lot of other things get left behind. But when I look around some of my friends seem to be in even darker places and that’s a scary thing because how can you support me if you yourself aren’t in the best place either. Maybe you can’t. But maybe you can’t at least do anything that is completely wrong.

Our friend and collaborator Sophia Halamoda with whom we co-created our book Like A Berliner, has dedicated a brand new comic strip to this very sensitive subject. In it, she describes how she thinks we should treat our friends in crisis and takes a close look at the very difficult but very real subject of toxic positivity. This is something we have probably all practiced without thinking once and this particular situation makes it clear how rather lazy a loophole it is than a real help.

We are happy that this comic makes us think a little bit and want to thank Sophia for taking the time and dedication to create these beautiful illustrations and kind words. We hope this will have a positive impact on some of you.