A Tool Kit for Getting Out of a Funk, and the Grandmomma of Them All

As we begin the 2025 year, our deepest condolences and love is with the communities impacted by the devastating wildfires currently impacting Los Angeles. While there are many (many!) needy causes, here is a short list of hospitality and community-focused organizations you may want to support with your time or financial donations.

United Sommeliers Foundation has opened emergency funding for wine and hospitality professionals whose employment has been impacted by the ongoing wildfires.
Mutual Aid LA has compiled an extensive spreadsheet resource detailing donation needs, volunteer opportunities, shelter locations and needs. It is published in multiple languages.
World Central Kitchen is again feeding families and first responders who are on the frontlines.
Finally, this spreadsheet details more than thirty GoFundMe requests for hospitality and wine professionals and groups impacted by the wildfires.

While the main fire fronts are starting to be contained, the recovery efforts will continue for months, so it's never too late to check in on those friends, colleagues and community members in the LA area to offer them support. A kind shoulder, a phone call or an offer of support can make a difference to the lives of those who have lost everything.

Donate your time or efforts if you can. We love you LA.

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A Tool Kit for Getting Out of a Funk, and the Grandmomma of Them All

Let’s call it a “how to get out of a funk tool kit.”

I’m talking about resources – audial, visual, analog – to protect us from the low-vibe events and developments that seem to be thundering around our industry and personal lives, fairly incessantly these days, from the wildfires mentioned above and black smoke and bad press about alcohol and economic pressures and and and.

Some days are worse than others, and some days we are in fact able to see the sunshine break through. But I think we can all agree that our industry has seen longer streaks of sunnier days, and that string of bad luck threatens to overflow into our personal lives as well.

The realist in me knows this to be true. Fortunately, I also tilt toward optimism on most days. But it’s for those days when the vibe is low, for those moments when I feel myself start to spiral in the wrong “woe is me” direction, for those times when I need to pull myself out of a funk, that I’ve assembled the tool kit that I’d like to share with you.

Here are four ways that I shift the vibe in those low-energy moments. I’d love to hear your perspective too. How do you pull yourself out of a funk?

Lessons of Worth with Viola Davis. This YouTube video is bookmarked on my phone and computer. It’s the words and it’s also Viola Davis’ delivery that give me goosebumps, every time.

The Prayer Your Heart Needs Right Now, by Danielle LaPorte. This prayer is from Thérèse of Lisieux, and I love its gentleness. We are exactly where we are meant to be.

Stepping Outside. Last week Atlanta, where I live, was caught in a winter storm that landed snow and ice in neighborhoods, including my own, where there is not usually snow and ice. I stepped outside one of the mornings when it was the quietest the city ever is, and I heard a crackling that seemed to be coming from the leaves and branches of the trees themselves. It was still too cold for the ice to be melting and I don’t understand the phenomenon of what was happening, but it made me tingle with fascination and awe. This was unusual, and I am privileged to live in a part of the world with an abundance of water, and it was also a reminder: Quickest way out of a funk could well be to step outside and pay attention (listen, look, smell, touch) to the wonder of nature. It flips a switch, just like that.

Grandmomma of Them All. An old teacher of mine used to advise that if we felt we lacked in some way, then to give that thing away. Money, for example (even in the smallest increment), or attention, or care. To me, this is the greatest change-the-vibe tool of them all. If I’m feeling helpless, then offer help to someone else. If I’m feeling anxious, then find someone to offer a steady hand or a steady gaze. If I’m feeling alone, then reach out and connect with another person. If I need love or touch or tenderness, then offer it in some way to some person or being.

I think of this as the “Grandmomma” of them all. It’s old school. Analog. Intelligent in a compassionate, experienced way. It is also fail-safe.

How about you? How do you pull yourself out of a funk? 

I’d love to hear.

Namaste,
Cathy