How are you holding up? What is lifting your heart, putting a bounce in your step these days?
How are you holding up is the question that is absolutely lifting my heart at the moment. That’s because as I walk around my neighbourhood people are asking each other this question. We are stopping to talk (at a distance of course). We are taking the time to check in with one another in a way I’ve never experienced in this culture. People are sharing their fears but also stories of the meals they have cooked and the places they have walked today.
We are watching news reports of the pandemic as it travels the globe, and knowing we are in this together. On a worldwide level I feel connected to the people in Italy, Spain, the UK, the US and all of the other places that are sharing this current health crisis with us.
For most of us, life has slowed down. We don’t need to rush to get the dog walked so we can get on to a million other things. Yes, we are working from home, and getting food and other supplies takes extra planning and organizing. But we have dropped the sense of urgency for the most part.
Of course for front line health care workers life has not slowed down. Hopefully each of them has a support network that can pick up the extra daily living tasks so that they can focus on their work and keeping all of us safe.
In our home we’ve been making kimchi (a Korean pickled cabbage that we’ve discovered goes well with almost everything!), growing our own sprouts and my husband has gone back to baking bread. It feels like the 70’s again.
What should we keep from this experience?
I’ve been thinking about what do I want to keep in my life once we move onto a period of less restrictions?
- I want to keep the frequent check-ins with my loved ones. I love seeing my son in Toronto on FaceTime, and texting and dropping off supplies to my son across town. I’m chatting more with my brother and family in New Zealand and my sister in Ontario.
- I want to keep stopping to chat with neighbours and people I meet along the way. I hope we keep asking How are you holding up? and taking the time to listen to the answers. I hope we can keep this feeling of connection in our community.
- I want to keep knowing how the rest of the world is doing. I also hope we can keep this connection as a worldwide community.
What are you hoping to keep in your life going forward? Let me know in the comments below.
