For many of us we are entering week 2 of the Corona Virus ordeal. We spent the first week listening to tips and ideas about how to get our offices in shape, adjusting to the new normal of working from home, talking remotely with colleagues and clients and enjoying the extra time to play with our kids and pups.
While our schedules may seem to be busy, I have heard from many people that there is also a great deal of time that we have for our own reflections and thoughts. Worry and concern are filling these times and that can easily lead to anxiety and stress.
Remember that resilience is the antidote to stress and one of the important strategies to try out this week is to make sure that we are able to see beyond our own immediate personal world.
A memory that has inspired me this week is a story about my daughter Corinne. When she was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer, she did everything she could to live her life as fully as possible. In the hopes of gaining more life she signed up for an experimental bone marrow transplant at MD Anderson in Houston. This procedure involved her not leaving her hospital floor for a period of two weeks, and then wearing mask and gloves everywhere she went in public for several months afterwards. “What am I going to do in isolation for two weeks – just worry about myself?” she said.
Her solution was to ask all the people who were praying for her to send her their pictures and she would pray for them. Her “prayer wall” of pictures in her hospital room grew by the day as loved ones, friends, and even people she barely knew shared with her, what prayers they needed to have strength to face their challenges.
In her wisdom she knew that by focusing her loving energy on others, it would relieve her anxiety and gave her a cause that went beyond her own life.
It’s natural to be worried and concerned about how all this will play out for us individually, and for our loved ones and settling to think about other people in our lives. How about reaching out for real social connection – a phone call, email or one of those funny memes on Facebook that will help us all see the other side a little more brightly.
