Staying positive through shelter in place


I watched Together At Home last night with the family. It was sad and uplifting all at once. To hear the stories and to think of the suffering and trauma some people are going through is incredible. We are resilient beings though and we can overcome hard times.

Is it necessary to always be positive? Not at all. It is important to feel all the feelings, it is also important to not wallow in the bad ones. As an eternal optimist, I know some people struggle with my constant positive energy. It is just that I am wired a little different. I firmly believe that when you focus more on the silver lining, you end up with more lining.
This shelter in place has challenged me though. I have cried, been mad, been sad, and even a little angry.

My daily routine is so off from my normal. It took me several weeks to find my new normal. And then another couple weeks to tweak that to include what is truly important to me. In addition to journaling and meditations, I have been adding more good to my days.  I have read and listened to so many books, I read and listened to 52 books in 2019, and I am over 20 already this year. I have started taking yoga at least twice a week, more when I can and even trying to add in online meditations. I’m doing the Yale course on the science of happiness, I’m just a week in, so I’m sure I will have more to say about that in the coming months.

My fitness is so different today. In the beginning of March, I ran a trial half which took me over 2 and a half hours one saturday. I completed the heart rate training program and was switching to the speed training portion, as my goal is to PR my half in June. I was going to dance 3 days a week, for at least 7 hours per week. I was getting in 4-5 runs a week as part of my training program. Last week, I recorded 10 boot camps, each 45 minutes long. I took 3 yoga classes. And I went for 4 runs, the max time being an hour, and I’m continuing the heart rate training, as I am pretty positive the race I’m registered for will be canceled or virtual. I am trying to find more ways to fit dance into my day, but it’s a lot to juggle e learning with the kids and entertaining the kids and touching base with clients and housework and you get the picture.

I have been keeping in contact with a few friends with zoom calls, but not as many friends as I would like. And it isn’t the same behind screens as it is with in person hugs. I do believe it is important to keep that connection when and where we can though!

I have been sleeping in, but not sleeping more. I stay up a little later. I have struggling some nights to fall asleep, while other nights I can barely wait for bedtime. My alarm clock sun rises at 530 every week day, and weekends I just shut it off. The 530 wake time used to be my weekend alarm.

I recently saw a post in a facebook group about how many bottles of wine are you averaging a week. The number of women who responded was eye opening to me. I am not a big drinker, especially since I first went paleo 11 years ago. I don’t even always drink in social settings. Since we have been sheltering in place, I have had a glass of wine. We did a zoom 40th for a friend, and so I had a glass while on the call. I was actually just thinking the other day, I better have a glass with dinner soon, so the bottle doesn’t go bad. In Dave Hollis’ book, he talked about how he has given up drinking and the effects it has had. So many people are numbing themselves with nightly wine. Escaping feeling the feelings. As a health conscious person, I would rather feel the sad feelings and work through them, versus ignore them and drink. I think my sleep is poor now, it would really be bad if I was drinking nightly.

My heart aches for children who are going hungry. My heart feels for the moms who are having to work more and placate kids with tablets instead of learning. My heart breaks for the people sheltering in place with their abusers. I worry for the families who are missing out on therapy time, for regression happening right before their eyes. I haven’t found a way to help any of those people, and I know praying isn’t enough but I can do that.  I will continue to be a friend to those who need an ear. I will search for ways to support them. I will remain grateful and blessed that we are doing alright in this house.

What are you doing to get through this time? You can be blessed and still cry! Are you one my heart hurts for? Is there a way I can support you, even if just an ear to talk to? I’d love to be a shoulder to lean on, but that can’t be done 6 feet away. I find that it is hard to say we are in this together, because our situations may look nothing alike. I do know that we all have had to make changes and sacrifices for the better good of our world.