Nope. This particular time in our lives with Covid19 hanging over our heads is not the very best time.
But guess what is?
Having a practice! It’s the very best time to have a practice.
First, what’s a practice? It’s a routine of things that you do to keep you on track with being the person you want to be. It can be brushing your teeth so you don’t get holes in them, eating or exercising so you maintain a healthy body, or sitting your butt in a chair and meditating to help calm your brain and therefore your emotions.
Second, why is it the very best time to have a practice? Because this current event is a full on emotional shit kicking. It hit us all pretty much out of nowhere, has shifted our actions and behaviour in ways that we wouldn’t have ever predicted (home schooling, anyone??), and has put us on a roller coaster of emotions that all feel weird and uncontrollable.
Truthfully, in terms of what we are experiencing, this is no different than any other emotional shit kicking. Loss, divorce, cancer or Covid19. They all offer our insides similar experiences.
You know I’m big on having a plan, right? If you don’t, we need to talk. A plan is where you sit down and figure out how you can deal with whatever is happening for you from a place where you solidly know what you need. A place where you don’t doubt yourself and your value. A place where your head is no longer exploding. That plan becomes your practice.
In some ways, I feel like you and I have been preparing for this since you joined this blog list. Having a practice is how we pull ourselves back up and keep on walking after any emotional shit kicking.
Trouble is that when we feel shitty, we either don’t want to do anything or what we feel like doing are things that don’t actually help us.
We want comfort. A practice gives it to us.
Comfort can come in two ways, short term and long term. The trick is to know that you can’t sustain either one without the other. Short term comfort without long term comfort leaves you feeling physically and emotionally less than great. Long term comfort without short term comfort leaves you feeling deprived. Together you’ve got a great way to keep on walking.
Eat some chocolate, drink some wine, watch your favourite old movies if that’s what you’re craving.
And…breath, meditate, exercise, eat healthily, be in nature, play your favourite music, spend time with a good friend, hydrate, do Yoga, hug those you can, sleep. Do whatever you clearly know leaves you feeling strong and calm.
You may have to adjust for current conditions like kids under foot all the time or the constant juggling of demands, and there is more cleaning these days, but it’s worth it.
This is the hardest time to start a practice and yes, that practice needs to continue when this shit kicking is over. But remember, a practice sees you through good and bad times. It’s your back up.
So how about lovingly getting on it?
Do it for you. And if that’s not enough right now, do it for the people who need you to stay strong…and calm!
xoxo Dianna
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