If This is The End….
We might just be coming to the end of this two-year-long ordeal. We are tentatively heading back out into the sunshine after being in a virtual cave. I don't know about you, but I would like to think I learned a few things while we were all confined.
Some people have lost so much. Not being able to say goodbye to people they loved, jobs that meant everything to them, but most of all, I think they have lost time. It's the thing you can never get back. Missed birthdays, missed cuddles, missing that human connection.
It has highlighted what is important and maybe taught us some lessons.
Exercise is important: I say this as someone who snapped her fibular in half going for a leisurely stroll during the lockdown. For those who can get stuck in their head, which let's face it is all of us, spending even half an hour concentrating on your breath and how lucky you are to be able to move freely is sometimes just the thing you need to face the day.
Friendships can save you from the dark: There were days I just wanted to scream. I couldn't stand looking at the four walls of the house. Every time I opened the fridge, I could feel myself putting on weight, eating because I was bored, not because I was hungry. There were times I wanted to curl up in the foetal position and hide in a dark corner of the shed. It made me feel so much better to have a couple of hours when the kid was in bed on the phone with a friend who was feeling the same way. There were tears and laughter, love, and a way to get yourself through one more day. I have never been so grateful to have loyal and honest friends and just happy to share when we are all going through it at the same time.
The kid is an amazing human: I have loved having this time to watch her grow and learn at home. I have also realised just how connected we really are. She is the only person on earth I could spend 24 hours a day, seven days a week with. I have watched her step up with chores around the house and become so much more grown-up right in front of my eyes. I felt guilty for the first time in our lives that my decisions meant that she was an only child, and I worried all the time about the long-term effects on her mental health from this extended tough period. All that said, we will get through it together.
Time is everything: You have to make decisions about what you do with your time. You can spend it being angry and hurting other people, you can spend it just getting through the day, or you can choose to spend the little time we have on this earth making it a better place than it was when you found it. Sometimes when things are hard, just getting through the day seems like the only thing you can manage. The idea of leaving a legacy behind seems like a reach that will have to wait but being there for other people in a real way will be part of that legacy. The person you choose to be and how you treat others is all that matters at the end of the day.
This was a reset; let's use it as an opportunity to be kinder, more present, more available for the things that actually mean something.
