I gave myself a pep talk recently before walking into the local grocery store. “You can do this. You should do this. Just keep swimming.” Why all the self-talk? I was going to wear my cloth mask into the store. And I was pretty sure I was going to be the only person in the store wearing a mask. Being alone in doing something feels awkward any day; during a time when every single person around you is under quite a bit of stress because of an ongoing global pandemic and a growing awareness of pervasive racial injustice, it gets downright hard.