In many ways, I feel like I can see your everyday life even more clearly than before.
It is almost as if I have a window in your living room and you have a window in mine.
We are virtual roommates and the whole world is rooming together.
Living in unison.
And even though we may not speak the same language.
We communicate invisibly.
Some of us may have different walls around us.
Different size yards. We may have different size bodies, different color eyes.
But we are all living similar lives.
The young are struggling to make sense of this new reality.
The old are afraid, they are not ready to pass just yet.
The people in the middle are running to the young to guide them and to the old to keep them alive and sometimes they forget that they need help.
They are in grief too.
As for me, I have thought about death even more than I ever have before.
There is this urgency that comes with the coronavirus.
It is hard to put in words. It comes and takes groups of people.
It goes after the ones who are healthy and young.
It goes inside nursing homes and takes warriors.
Yes warriors, these people may have aged but they lived big lives and have overcome many other health challenges.
But this virus is almost like a bigger enemy than cancer, obesity, and heart disease.
And as it takes so much from so many, some are denying its monstrous personality.
Almost as if this is too scary to be real.
But in this life of duality.
Living inside a comfortable home during isolation, comes a type of grief that is invisible.
The type that is like a ghost.
You can feel it, but because nobody can see it, it’s not talked about.
You even find it hard to be certain of its presence.
This is what it’s like to cry without tears. To grieve without a body. (Click to tweet!)
To feel sorrow without a real cause.
And we bury these feelings because we think it can’t be that bad, or real.
So in order for us to find our way to the goodness of our hard times I made a short list of things that are good for us right now.
You may feel lonely but you are not alone.
There are millions of people feeling what you are feeling. Talk to them, so they can talk to you. Discover your similarities and heal together. The more you talk about what is invisible, the more your brain can process the grief of what is taking place. Don’t keep any of it inside. The more trivial it seems, the more you need to share it.
Who are you becoming?
Life will never be the same after this. And because of that, you need to also figure out the parts of you that are changing. You must ask the question. How am I changing?
Take on a new hobby. Even if it feels pointless. Do it because it will bring fun in your life. Do it for you. Maybe this is the only time you are choosing something for yourself. One of my favorite places for learning is MasterClass.
Is your personal style changing?
Find a new style for yourself. When you start to dress for your eyes only you start to learn what you really like. I love jeans and sweaters. What have you noticed you like to wear for yourself? I actually love Ellen’s style. Simple. And yet bold in many ways.
Learn to love your own company.
Spending time on your own is different now. There is a lot more time to be in your own company. Make this time more intentional. Read the books. Paint the paintings. Speak a new language even.
How we express love is changing.
How we love each other is changing. For those of us who live with their families we learn to love each other despite all the disagreements and less space. We find our way to love through knowing each other better. New relationships are starting virtually and non physically now, and they seek an emotional foundation rather than a physical one. So many long distance relationships are being formed. Maybe more than ever.
Increase in Spirituality.
We are becoming more spiritual. We are praying more. Meditating more. And yes I have heard that there is also a lot of video games and inappropriate online content increase but these are the things that we can measure. Imagine if we could measure prayer, and meditation. We would see even a bigger increase. And for that I am certain.
Food is healing us.
We stopped dieting, trying to change our physical bodies for others. We started enjoying cooking and baking and spending time at the dinner table. A good friend of mine Leanne Ely has always said the dinner table will save our lives. Have the food, bake the banana bread. Eat it all with those that matter. Virtually or in person. We have pizza night and coffee hour in our private Life Reentry group for that reason.
Goodbye Material World
We are working less. We are learning how to be with less money. We let go of all the material things we never really needed to begin with. If you are ready to shed more from your closet during this time, I hope you listen to my interview with Courtney Carver.
You will be ready to take on the new world.
And last but not least I want you to know the more you go within yourself during this time, the more ready you will be when the door opens again. The more time you spend learning new skills, the more ready your brain will be to take on the new world that will be upon us.
I know we are inside the Waiting Room but we do have the controls as to how to spend our time in there.
Here’s to month 2 of unexpected change. We got this. We really do.
Believe in yourself. Especially if you are completely on your own at home.
You will keep on saving your own life. And then to go and save others, your virtual roommates need you.
With a bigger world inside,
Christina
P.S. The paperback of Where Did You Go? Is out. Thank you all for your journeys, and your stories of connections with your loved ones.
