Bringing a Little Light and Love

I'd like to bring a little light

To shine a light on your life

To make you feel loved

(Hamburg Song by Keane)

I have struggled to write this post for the past couple of weeks and it was keeping me up last night wondering how to finish it.

I have looked at this pandemic as a before/after event.

I think that we will remember the year 2020 as the year things changed. The problem is that as I wrote a message of hope for the future, I thought of others who may not feel so hopeful.

I am lucky so far that this has not affected my family too negatively so I didn't want to downplay the seriousness of the situation. I know that some of you are working harder than you have ever worked or lost your jobs and that some are endangering your lives to help others.

My natural tendency is to look on the bright side of a situation which is what I have been writing about but I struggled to complete it while recognizing that not everyone can look on the bright side at the moment. Many people can not see the light at the end of the tunnel YET but hopefully will soon.

When I think back at these types of before/after events in my life, I am reminded of being laid off at work. At the time, I thought I was in the perfect position for me. I had been with the company five years then shockingly, we were all told that they were closing the Canadian subsidiary.

It was a sad and scary time for my colleagues and I. Thankfully I was given a generous severance. I was given time to reflect and plan for the future. What seemed like a low point in my life at the time turned out to be a blessing in disguise in hindsight.

I contributed part of my severance to an RRSP that would later be the down payment for our house. I spent a few months unemployed and learning about myself through the seminars and counselling I received through the outplacement service I received as part of my severance.

When I think about the COVID-19 pandemic being a before and after event, I initially am sad and think about the negative impact it may have on our future but then reflect on other difficult times. So many more positives come from some challenges.

As difficult as this time can be, there are things we can't control and there are things we can do to add a little light to our lives before it gets better.

One of those is to connect with others. I can't imagine going through physical distancing 30 years ago when we would have been writing letters or telephoning on landlines with expensive long distance plans. I am thankful that this pandemic is happening in 2020 when we can still connect with others with the help of technology.

I am thankful to those of you who reached out to me about my posts or project. It warms my heart to know that I have added a little light, inspiration or even a diversion for a moment. I am also inspired and getting ideas from my friends who are sharing their projects, stories and activities.

For those of us who are given extra time while we stay home, we can use the time to learn about ourselves and envision the future we want once life returns to the new normal. Some of us may have been going through the motions of life without recognizing that we were spending time on activities we no longer value.

Like I mentioned in a post last month, what do we really miss and can't wait to get back to? What are we indifferent to or don't miss that we can maybe let go of?

This pause gives us a chance for reflection. I have read that sometimes we have to let go of things (or activities) to make room for something better. The world may not be the same as it was and hopefully most of the changes will be for the better in the long run.

While reflecting on the past and dreaming of our future, let's not forget the present. It may be difficult to make happy memories at this time, but how can we make today better? I am inspired by a friend who is keeping an online photo journal. She takes a photo every day of something positive that happened and shares it on social media. I have since started to put photos in a folder to remind me of this time as well. I don't have one for every day, but it's still a good representation.

I was inspired by another friend to do an Easter dinner exchange with my sister while physically distancing. I love friends posting photos of new recipes or new hobbies they are trying or reviving.

I have had a line-a-day journal for the last 5 years and just started a new one in 2020.

I have been writing some quotes and happenings in that journal. I am rarely up to date but I catch up by looking at my calendar, photos, screenshots, social media posts and emails to remind me. I was going to take a photo of the April 17th page in my old journal, but it wasn't complete so I looked for another that "looked good".

The PJMixer quote in this photo was started on the previous page and comes from a blog post he wrote last year. I find it very interesting to read it today:

"If we were to time travel, what would we learn? Simple. From a trip to the past, we’d probably realize how great life is now. From a trip to the future, we wouldn’t have all we love today... 

Take a breath. Look around. Enjoy the taste and aromas. The touch of material matters. And the sound of music or laughter (or the witty dance of clever dialog)."

My husband wrote that before I began the Revive55 Project and is probably the biggest inspiration I have.

On the same page, I find the Downton Abbey quote also timely:

"War has a way of distinguishing between the things that matter and the things that don't."

I almost had happy tears finding this quote. It is exactly what I was trying to say in this blog post yet was struggling to find the words. We may not be in a war, but we are living in very challenging times giving us the opportunity to see what really matters to us and what really matters to the world.

I recently said that my husband is doing better at preserving memories than I am these days. He has been engrossed in our photos and videos during his #stayhome hours. One of his projects involved meshing a bunch of clips together to capture my excitement at the re-lighting of the Olympic cauldron in February. The work he is doing is really worth an extra post that I will write about another day. He is my perfect memory-keeping partner.



 
Sharing our stories and how we are coping gives us inspiration to make our days better.