Shifting Perspective

Wow! In just a  short time the world has changed, each of our lives are touched by the COVID-19. I can focus on what has changed, how we are each affected, loss of income, isolation, fear, anxiety, illness, children not in school, the empty shelves at the stores and even the lack of toilet paper, the list goes on and on, but we all know that...in fact it is just about all we hear about and talk about so I want to shift directions a little bit.

Yes! I have had moments of wondering, fear and anxiousness, more than I care to admit. And then I decided I have a choice, I can choose to shift my perspective. 

First...what am I thankful for? The list is endless...family, my children, a place to live, the beautiful spring weather, freinships, internet and video chat and warm cups of tea...blessings to endless to count them all. I dare you to make your own endless list of thankfuls.

Life has been busy, I picture a big ferris wheel spinning faster, faster  and faster that we all have been on, going so fast we are out of breath. What if we looked at this time as a gift...No,  coronavirus is not a gift, it is devastating, but we each individually have the opportunity to slow down and breath. I enjoy hiking on a mountain near me and I am seeing something I have never seen in the 9-10 years I have been roaming these mountain trails... Families, a lot of parents, dads and moms with their children, couple together. Yes, they have been out before,  but not in the numbers I see now. The wheel has slowed down and we have an opportunity to pause and enjoy the people that we live with, connect and really hear each other, we have time to linger over a family meal together. So much has been taken away, but so much has been given when we shift perspective. There is time to dust off board games, catch up on the list of ‘to do’s'' that has been waiting for your attention, there is time to just sit and rest.

Rest has not been easy for me to do in the years gone by. I went through a season while fighting Lyme disease, and struggled so hard with the concept of rest. I had a driving sense ‘to do’, so the concept of needing to rest was difficult. What I learned through that experience is that ‘embracing a season of rest’ and taking time to breath was important and a gift. When I was able to resume normal daily activities, I looked back on the season of ‘forced rest’ ’ and wondered “why did I not take the opportunity to truly and fully rest while I had it and not fight it? To truly rest, to enjoy the beauty each day had to offer, enjoy the gift of life.” 

According to some, a definition of rest is “cease work or movement in order to relax, refresh oneself, or recover strength” (author unknown) 

We have all been spinning faster and faster on the wheel called life and suddenly we are ‘forced to slow down, rest’ Can you take this time to ‘refresh oneself’? 

What would a refreshing look like to you?  Rest and refreshing  will look different for everyone -

Playing with your children

Eating dinner together as a family

Journalling 

Singing

Mediatiaton

Completing the ‘to do’ list

Spring cleaning

Yard clean up

Netflix bingeing

Tik tok 

Dancing 

Getting out in nature

Writing a book

Reading a book

Starting an on-line learning

Goals setting

Starting an on-line business that has been a dream for a long time

Facetiming with friends over a cup of coffee/tea

Time with God

Setting a puzzle

...this list can go on forever.

Another word that keeps rolling through my mind is opportunity, a definition of this word is “a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something”  (author unknown) 

We have the ‘opportunity’ to push pause, we have the opportunity to get really curious about ourselves and to dig deeper into reflection and take time to heal the places of our souls that have been told to be quiet for so long...in this pause that we can either look at as something to be endured, or a time to pull out those hidden dreams and explore what that would look like to create plans for those dreams to flourish, for those business plans to come to life and begin leaning into those goals.

In this time when the world has paused, we have an opportunity to rest and out of that rest, when we truly give ourselves permission to pause, can flow healing at a soul level, creative ideas burst forth, restored dreams and new beginnings.

Yes, it is easy to tune into social media or the news and be fearful. I get it. I have done the same. Let’s rather embrace an opportunity to rest, slow down and connect with self, with God, family, our dance moves, our creativity and our dreams and goals.