Hey, long time no see or speak. Ordinarily, when I make mention of the time separated from you, the beautiful readers, I do so with a sense of humor. However, these days there is little to nothing that I can say that is funny about being apart from family, friends, and loved ones.
The Coronavirus Pandemic is not only a joke stealer, but it’s also a game-of-life changer. Thanks to COVID-19, even self-described loners like me – people who often clown about living my best life alone – are now forced to look at the world and social isolation completely different. Before now, oft times choosing to be alone was my personal preference, but now ‘Shelter In Place‘ is not only mine but everyone’s current and sad reality.
So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that I miss each one of you more than I would have ever considered possible. Plus, more than anytime previously, I hope and pray this post finds you and yours in good health and high spirits.
And although today’s Pandemic has effectively stolen my customary ability to tell as many jokes about my fondness for being alone, I refuse to let the Coronavirus steal my joy. I hope I can muster up a witticism here and there so that you and I can take a moment to exhale and perhaps even laugh together like the good old days.
DON’T LET THE CORONAVIRUS STEAL YOUR JOY
Throughout my life, my mother, grandmothers, and numerous other amazing elders have reminded me repeatedly never to let anyone steal your joy. I’ve yet to seek the timeless, trusted wisdom of my village. Still, I’m sure their sage advice applies to the Coronavirus as well.
“Nate,” I’m almost sure they will all say, “don’t let the Coronavirus steal your joy.” So, in advance of the videoconferencing discussions I expect to have with them, I’m sharing the wise advice I know they’d encourage me to share with you. “Folks,” I’m entirely positive they would say to you, “please don’t let the Coronavirus steal your joy.”
Yet as we all know, saying we won’t let the barrage of bad news steal our joy isn’t the same as doing what is necessary to keep our joy. In times such as these, we need both words and deeds to remain sane to stay upbeat.
During dark days, we need a process to find and hold on to joy. A method including tools, techniques, and strategies that keep the miserable daily news reports of the Coronavirus at bay and also provide us a way to find joy and happiness amid what feels like little else than a continuous barrage of pain, suffering, and sorrow.
FORGIVE ME FOR NOT SAYING SOMETHING SOONER
For more than a year, I’ve been doing two things that I considered sharing with you on several previous occasions. For whatever reason, it didn’t seem right to share at the time. However, now that the world is upside down, it seems silly that I didn’t share it earlier.
My father routinely said to me, “If I give you advice, and you don’t like it throw it out, but if you like it and the advice works keep it.” I believe the two things I am doing to keep my world right-side up fit my father’s life lesson about giving and receiving advice.
If anyone, including me, is doing anything unique to keep our spirits up or undertaking something out of the ordinary to help us keep our wits about us, we should share as it might be helpful. Of course, if you don’t find the advice of others, including mine, valuable, do what my father suggested to me. Throw out the advice – ignore me and my two things. Toss my two cents in the garbage.
TWO BIG THINGS
So, without further ado, the following are two things I’m doing that I’d encourage you to do alone and with those with whom you are ‘Sheltered In Place’:
Vision Board – Life won’t always be like this. One day hopefully sooner than later, things will return to normal. With a bit of luck, before you know it we’ll be back to our daily commute texting while driving and cutting each other off the road like inattentive maniacs; taking most of our loved ones, friends and family for granted, and binge-watching hour after hour of mind-numbing television once more (oops my bad, we were binge-watching long before the quarantine). Anyhow, you get the point, someday all will be right in our world again.
Until then, I thought I should tell you about my vision board. On my vision board includes all the things I’d like to do when the world as we once knew it returns. Also, on my vision board are things that I always talked about doing that I’ve yet to do. Stuff that I could have and should have done before the Global Pandemic. Life-affirming things that I grieve for not having done already.
I have several copies of the vision board all over my home. It’s also my phone background, my computer screensaver, and the television screensaver. My vision board is ubiquitous. Why is it everywhere because the vision board helps me stay encouraged? Being encouraged is no longer a luxury; today, holding on to your joy is a necessity.
I know all the remaining days of my life won’t be like this, and my vision board helps me keep those positive thoughts and images front and center in my mind. Plus, thanks to my vision board when the world I use to remember returns, I want to be ready.
The vision board is my faithful accountability partner that helps me stay ready now so that I won’t need to get prepared later to live my best life. In a warped sort of irony due to the Coronavirus, I’m getting ready now to live a life full of fantastic experiences with a renewed sense of purpose and urgency.
Journal Forward – Each day, I journal, but my journal is different from most. I don’t journal about what happened yesterday. There are no sad song lyrics. I don’t write about how cramped my home seems, how I feel like I’m living a real-life version of “Ground Hog Day,” or how I’d desperately like it if everyone in my house would disappear at least for a short while.
Nope, that’s not how I roll, nor is it how I record my desired future life. I don’t moan and complain in this journal. I dare not spend a moment regretting anything or weeping over any day.
Instead, my journal is an extension of my vision board. Daily, I allocate the first 14 minutes, the first 1% of my day to thoughts of my best life. I imagine a life no longer confined by ‘Shelter In Place,’ days free of social isolation, living where nothing is impossible, and dwelling where everything I dream is conceivable.
In my journal, I visualize living a life that, for most people, is beyond imagination. For at least 14 of the allotted 1440 minutes we receive every day, I live outside of the boundaries of our present sad state of reality. I spend the first waking moments of each day imagining and recording in my journal what life will be when I live up to my potential and when I live every celestial gifted second “in the moment.”
I’ve found that journaling forward daily prepares me to tackle the day with the type of focus and vigor required in times such as we are currently living. By allocating the first 1% of my day to envision my best life, the remaining 99% of my day is consistently better, and my future always seems brighter no matter what is going on in the world.
GIVE IT A TRY
Buddha said, “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.” I couldn’t agree with Buddha more, which is why during the COVID-19 Crisis, it is especially vital that you have a mental process that helps you drown out the onslaught of negativity.
I don’t know what you and your family are doing right now to keep your joy. But if you aren’t doing something to feed your mind, body, and spirit daily, you are doing you and those you love a grave disservice. If you don’t believe me, trust Buddha. You must control your thoughts; otherwise, you are setting yourself up to let the Coronavirus not only direct your thoughts but steal your joy.
We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world. – Buddha
Until next time, please know that I will never cease hoping and praying that you and yours remain in good health and high spirits. Lastly, remember whatever you do; no matter what happens over the coming days, weeks, and months do not let the Coronavirus steal your joy.