When the pandemic first took hold on a global scale in March 2020, an amazing thing happened: the entire world was thrust into a shared focus by a common threat we could rally against. Suddenly, boundaries disappeared. We were finally one community. One race of humans.
As frightening as the past year has been, I often felt uplifted by the resilience of the human spirit. When I saw people unify like never before, it churned raw emotions in me. What I witnessed through newscasts and social media was moving. Even humbling.
Today, the tone has shifted. People are tired of fighting this battle. Fed up. And I get it! But while we may feel restricted and powerless, nothing could be further from the truth. Each day, we can choose to wrap ourselves in fear, sadness, and frustration – or we can choose something better. For me, the choice has become a lot easier since I stopped watching the news.
Here’s a news flash: I have no control over COVID-19’s debilitating impacts on the world at large. I cannot help those who are suffering with their health, grieving the loss of loved ones or feeling the pinch of the economic downturn. It is not my weight to bear. I do my part by following protocols to keep myself and others safe. Fretting and causing others to fret around me simply isn’t helpful.
Instead, I focus on things that bring joy into my life. Painting. Dancing in the kitchen. Going for walks in the woods with my dog. By raising my good vibrations, I raise the good vibrations of those around me. Now, when I make my weekly call to my mom, we laugh about life instead of worrying about government policies and how many people died last week.
“Challenging times” may have connected us last spring, but now it’s time to move past this negative phrase. The bleak emotions it invokes creates a collective consciousness that weighs us down. We need to be uplifted. We have lives to live, and I will not spend any more of mine wallowing in self-pity because my options have been altered or, in some cases, lost.
Loss is part of life, as hard-wired into the human condition as continual change. In February, we lost our dear columnist Pat Nichol. When I heard the news, I cried. And I thought a lot about her in the days that followed. But I know Pat would not want anyone who knew her to simmer in sadness for very long. There are adventures to be had, experiences to embrace!
Consider how incredibly fortunate we are to have virtual connections to our friends, family, and work colleagues. Thirty or more years ago, this pandemic would have affected our daily lives in much darker and dramatic ways. Our losses, both real and perceived, would have been incalculable. In a way, we are so very lucky!
Perhaps life on this planet is forcing humanity to make changes because we need to make changes. Rearranging priorities has been paramount during the last 12 months. Have you noticed? Perhaps we’re living in the midst of a teachable moment. What remains to be learned is still unfolding, but I have every confidence that we’ll hoist it in. And when we do, we’ll come out more resilient than we ever thought possible.
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