Our happiness is certainly mixed in with the tragedies of life. You have to find the lemonade. You have to find the silver lining in the middle of everything that happens in life. Chandra Wilson
by Jodi
Writing this post has been on the back burner for me for these last few weeks. I kept holding back, waiting for things to normalize, and hoping for some good news that I could write about. Instead, circumstances changed every day or so and the tragedies and losses kept piling up. It was really starting to heighten my anxiety levels and block my creativity when I had an amazing “Ah Ha” moment after a short breathing meditation practice.
What if – instead of thinking about all the loss and changes and uncertainty – I focused instead on all the silver linings I could find in my life? So, I’ve come up with a list of good things that have come out of being socially distanced for the past 7 weeks.
Time with Layla.
We adopted a 5 month old puppy, Layla, on February 10th and we’ve had ALL this time at home with her to help her get comfortable and feel safe, to potty-train her, to ensure she’s not tearing up our furniture. It’s been a wonderful gift to be here to watch her grow – from 43 to 58.2 pounds since Feb 10th! I love watching her discover new things for the first time. One evening as we were going outside to potty (she’s still afraid of the dark and won’t go out alone) our neighbor’s son was playing his drums. Layla stopped, completely puzzled look on her face, and cocked her head as she listened for a few minutes. She had never heard such a thing before and was utterly fascinated. It was a really special moment, seeing the world so fresh and new through her eyes, and I might’ve missed out on that in the hustle and bustle of my normal every day life.
Healing Time for my Hip Injury.
My hip issues started as a clicking sound in 2013 and progressed to a popping sensation, pain, numbness and locking up after walking more than 1/2 mile. At the start of the year it was bad enough to impact my daily living and I’ve since seen several doctors and had a few tests revealing that I am suffering from adhesive capsulitis of the hip. It’s a common condition in the shoulder, sometimes called frozen shoulder, but it’s very rare in the hip. To heal, I need lots of anti-inflammatories, ice, heat, physical therapy, aquatic therapy, manual therapy, and most of all TIME. This unfortunate pandemic has given me plenty of time away from the business of my normal routine and is helping me to heal. For that, I’m thankful.
Time to Support Family.
Fortunately for us, my sister and her family live right across the street so we are quarantining together. Since my sister is an Emergency Room Nurse, she has continued to work 12 hour shifts 3 days each week. My niece, who is 6 years old, no longer goes to school. Instead, she is completing kindergarten online which is as insane as it sounds. Finding busy work for 6 year olds to do is probably as frustrating for the teachers as it is for us to get her TO DO her busy work. As a result, my poor niece is completely bored and since I’m home recovering, we get to have play dates together almost daily. I get my pool exercises done and she practices her swimming. I’m so fortunate to be home right now to help my sister with day care so she can stay on the front lines and not have to worry about my niece. Plus, I get time with my niece which is definitely a win for me!
Developing an Online Business Presence.
We’ve had several clients move away and ask for a way to continue working out with us through the years. So, I’ve wanted for quite some time to record some videos and build up our library or ideally record our live classes to share. There was never enough time to set it all up or enough extra money to invest in the lights, microphones, video equipment, editing software, etc. Well, this unexpected business closure forced us to stop trying to make perfectly polished and professional videos and instead just work with what we already have. With just an iPhone and my amateur editing skills, no microphones or lights, we have produced 17 days worth of online fitness and yoga content for our clients. Turns out that when you let go of perfection, you can still create something special and I would never have known that if we were not in this unusual situation.
There’s also been an astounding amount of projects around the yard and house that my husband has completed in the past few weeks and I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with some terrific colleagues and share the work of some dear friends and amazing teachers. Plus, I’ve been in touch with some family and friends that I haven’t spoken to in quite some time. So, all in all, there have been some really terrific by-products to the drastic lifestyle changes that we’ve all had to make over the past 7 weeks. I’ve just had to move aside some of the frustrations, annoyances, inconveniences and sadness to find them.
How about you? Could the Universe be encouraging you to develop some skills – like patience, resilience and compassion? I know I’ve been really focusing on growing and developing my patience, tolerance and self-love skills over the past few weeks. What nugget of hope can you mine for yourself? Can you find any positive developments in your current situation if you look hard enough? I hope, on your most trying days, you can shift your focus and find the blessing that’s hidden amongst all the rest.
