How can we compassionately honor our own pace and emotional and energetic needs and limits as we begin to blend "inside" and "outside" in this reentry phase?

This is the same thing we're doing with self-compassion practice as adults. We're (re)installing that gentle, nurturing, maternal-type, soothing voice within ourselves that helps us feel safe and calm so we can access a sense of resilience from within whenever we need it — particularly when we're struggling, feeling scared, inept, or alone.

Every time you let a should trump a genuine desire, you're telling your big “S” Self — your natural core of love and kindness — to get out of the driver's seat so your little “s” self — your control-loving ego — can take the wheel.