….remember when…..

I have tried to make it a practice to “keep my eye on the prize” by looking up, forward focusing, keep moving, believing and having faith, perseverance, endurance, etc. no matter what the circumstances may be.  Some of the cliche’s for encouragement like:  keep your chin up  it is going to get better; make lemonade out of the lemons, the light at the end of the tunnel are all meant to help us “keep our eyes on the prize” .  You might have needed encouragement if you are running a marathon, a difficult class of study, a major project at work or home, a health crisis and recovery or acceptance of a diagnosis .  All these cliche’s and circumstances imply some level of difficulty, challenge or just something that is not normal or the way it used to be, MY way…

As I am and many of you are facing week 51 of this pandemic; I have found myself “looking back” and remembering when…..  I clearly “remember when” I was told of the work from home arrangements and was looking forward to a few weeks to “work from home”.  Doing a load of laundry, take a work call, put supper in the oven and answer emails; yep, sounds like a wonderful work/life balance.  Knowing what we all know now, I am not sure how I (we) might have been better prepared. Just as many of us have experienced winter snow/ice storms, hurricanes, tornados, floods and repeated floods in homes and towns and homes and businesses the devastation and loss by fire and the wildfires, we have done the best we could considering the circumstances = resilience.  One often does not know what they can do/face/endure until they meet “it”.

As I have been reflecting backwards on these 51 weeks, I have contemplated what lessons I have learned and what is the “silver lining” of this experience, not just for me, but universal.  This is an interesting reflection; can I identify a positive for a negative; can two negative experiences lead to a positive experience or lesson learned to remove those two negatives out of my routine.  As things are slowly becoming our “new normal”, I think we all need to embrace that change can be our friend and remember when we were resilient and creative in so many ways during some of the worse times of our lives.  Keep your chins up, it is going to get better; with your faith and belief and you keep your eyes on the prize, there is light at the end of the tunnel!