It’s Not All Bad: Blessing of the Coronavirus

Good morning friends, how are you? I’ve been thinking this week about the blessings of our time at home. Yes the virus is a horrible thing, my heart breaks for those that have lost their lives, everyone out of work, the people on the front line, and all those suffering and there are many. However, I’ve been trying to focus on the good things each day and these are a few of the things I have written lately in my gratitude journal. 

More time with family,  hectic schedules, travel and life sometimes get in the way of spending quality time with our families. Now that we are all at home together is allows it to reconnect, relax and take time to do things that all of the other activities in our “normal life” do not allow for. My husband and I have been playing games, doing puzzles, pulling out our cookbooks and tackling new recipes to name just a few of the things we are doing. 

An Empty Schedule, we all have classes, work, sports, or other things on our daily schedule, sometimes these activities take place after work or every weekend. Now, we can celebrate the joy of an empty schedule, we can sleep in on the weekend if we want, no more spending hours in the car driving to tutoring, sporting events or other extra curricular activities. So many complain about not enough time in the day, well here it is. We have lots of time now, we are not going to be home forever, so why not take advantage of this downtime to relax and regroup. 

Learning something new, you can listen to podcasts, TED talks, take classes on Edex or Coursera or take advantage of the many money saving deals for online classes. 

Time, time to do nothing or “everything”. We now have all the time in the world to relax and slow down or to get ahead on our to-do lists. There is time to read, watch a movie, and spend time with your kids, pups and family or to declutter the house, paint your dining room or whatever else you want. 

Creativity, have you always wanted to learn to paint, write a book, play an instrument, learn to arrange flowers, take photos? Or did you used to do these things and life got to busy? Now is the time to dig out your watercolor paints, your violin, and your camera, go on U-tube or any number of sites and watch tutorials to refine or brush up on your skills. 

Healthy Planet, with everyone staying home the planet seems to be healing a little bit. Pollution is down and the air quality is better in many countries. In India for the first time in 30 years they can see the Himalayan mountains.   

Nature, the great outdoors are calling us now more than ever. Since we have been on lockdown I have seen more people on bikes, in wagons, walking, running and playing outside in my neighborhood than I have seen in all the time I have lived there. Families are taking bike rides together, going on picnics, fishing, planting gardens, all wonderful activities and great ways to make memories. Get back to nature. 

 Empathy, compassion, sympathy, sometimes the world seems so cruel and this pandemic, which has caused the entire world to shut down,  has brought out the best in so many. People seem so much more compassionate, empathetic and sympathetic to the plight of people not only in their own family, neighborhood or state but to the suffering of people all over the world. 

Have you found any blessings in staying at home? If so please share. 

Stay inside, stay safe and have a great day.