Focusing on the positive

It has been an interesting spring.  I tease my daughter when she uses the word "literally" inappropriately but she pointed out to me that when she said, "literally everyone in the world is affected by this pandemic" I could not argue with the usage.  No one was spared.  We all were impacted in some way.  Has it been a struggle? Certainly, it has.  Has everyone been impacted the same way?  Of course not.  My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones, those who feel the additional burdens associated with the quarantine and shutdowns.  In my personal experience, has it all been negative?  Well, no... not really.

I am generally a "glass half full" sort of guy.  When I have struggled with the reality we find thrust upon us, and I do, I have tried to take the time to really consider my situation.  When I get regularly caught up in the fear and uncertainty, which happens more frequently than I would expect, I have been trying to take a moment and seriously consider the silver linings that may be held within the dark storm clouds surrounding me.   I can say that my running routine has changed (mostly for the better) my relationship with my family has changed, (for the better) and my work/life balance has changed but that changed has caused me to see that it needs to be brought back into alignment.

Every day I go for a run.  It is a personal habit, some might call it an obsession, that has its origins many years ago.  For the last 10 years, running has been a social event with a running club.  There would be 6 or 8 of us meeting at 5:30 in the morning and running for an hour or so.  We'd talk and laugh, running in pairs or threesomes and exchanging positions and running mates all through the run...  then March happened and COVID19 and all of the fear and changes that shook our world.  Any gathering of people became a cause for fear.  My morning run routine changed and became a solitary time to think and pray.  For six or eight weeks now I often run alone.  I start right from the house in the chilly darkness of the early morning hours.  Motivation comes from a different place.  I start my run and begin thinking about how the night is transitioning into the morning I remind myself of a quote I heard long ago that reminds me to "be thankful for the darkness, for without it there can be no dawn".  

In this COVID time, our relationship with our neighbors has changed.  It is hard to articulate the change.  It sounds a little silly as I write it, but our neighbors became neighbors and not just the people who live across the street or in the house next door.  Since everyone is home, without errands that seem critical to accomplish right now, or kids to cart to sporting events, we have the chance to interact.  All of our neighbors are nice people, we just have not had a chance to interact with them.  We are beginning to get to know them in a deeper way, slowly but definitely.

We have been eating diner as a family much more regularly, almost exclusively.  There are no events to rush off to, not rehearsals and practice to coordinate.  There is beauty in that family time.  COVID is terrible and has caused a lot of pain, and death, anxiety, and change, but I will try hard to see also the beauty and good that it has also brought to the world.