Chances are, some of you feel guilty about how you feel at this point in this global pandemic. We couldn’t have predicted it, we weren’t prepared for it, and it can feel like we’re winging it day by day.
We know the stakes are high, but much of the information is contradictory.
Our collective reaction has varied. We’ve shared homeschooling tips, virtual museum tours, sourdough bread recipes, and the best shows to binge. But as time goes on, we’re thinking about next steps and what to do in both the near and foreseeable future.
Opinions are very different: if you venture back out into society, you knowingly endangering others, or if you feel safer staying home, you’re näive and willing to sacrifice your freedoms.
It’s hard to win.
But no one should make you feel ashamed of how you’re handling this. Pat yourself on the back if you washed your hair this week, put on shoes, sat in a chair and read all day, or went outside in the sunshine and took a walk.
You can also pat yourself on the back if you bought a book or took an online class and learned to do something you’ve always wanted to do, remodeled your kitchen, spring cleaned your house, or started writing the great Amerian novel.
It’s all good.
If you’ve studied the five love languages, the enneagram, or differences in learning styles, you understand that we are not all wired the same. People have different responses to the same situation and that’s okay.
I’m an enneagram 3 who is wired for productivity. I’m also a movie buff who thinks I have to earn the right to sit in front of the TV. Since I have no outside appointments and a small business and writing projects to fill my time, I’ve been an uninterrupted working machine for nearly two months. This means I have no qualms about watching a movie every evening or bingeing The Flash, my new addiction (it’s on Netflix).
In many ways I’m in a sweet spot and don’t feel compelled to leave home. Costco’s same-day delivery service may be my greatest discovery of 2020. Am I concerned about my family’s safety? Yes. It took me weeks to put faith over fear since my husband goes to work five days a week in a building with 22 other people.
Should I be ashamed to choose what feels comfortable for me and my family right now? No, and neither should you.
My mother was in poor physical health most of my life, from childhood until she passed away on my 38th birthday. We were close and I witnessed how deeply her life was marked by pain and struggle. Subsequently, I have an unnatural fear of being sick (and people who know me well know I hate to be afraid of anything).
Good or bad, experience informs our perception.
Please tell me, how are you? I pray you and your people are healthy, safe, and thriving in this time, whatever that looks like for you.
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This photo comes from a visit to Young Living’s farm in Mona, Utah, where I photographed several images for my upcoming book, It All Began in a Garden.
Enjoy!
