We are now in the second week of August and this spring and summer have been anything but normal. Most of us have had our typical spring and summer outings and gatherings cancelled or heavily modified. In spite of all of what my husband and I CAN’T do, we decided to create fun activities and memory makers what we CAN do. Hence “Fun Fridays”. It gives us something to look forward to and to remember back on.
We have some beautiful trails within 18 minutes of our home so some Friday mornings, we load the bikes up early and do a 20-mile ride through the farmlands and woods. We are typically done by 10 am. It’s great exercise, gets us back to nature and we enjoy pointing things out to each other along the way. This past Friday, we changed it up. We worked in the morning and then headed out to the lake with a picnic for the afternoon. We had a great walk and got lots of vitamin D. We also visited a popular waterfront resort town just to stroll, look at the boats and take in a beautiful day as we picnicked on the shoreline park grounds. Since we were outside and well distanced from others, mask wearing was minimal, and since we took our own picnic and chairs, we did not have to wait in any restaurant lines or wonder if the tables were properly sanitized. We spent an hour and a half just watching the boats and people go by as we ate and chatted. We could not have gotten a restaurant table with a better view. We watched other couples/families and small groups similarly enjoying the afternoon in the park with picnics, dogs, books and musical instruments. In this situation, it was easy to feel blessed vs. disappointed about what wasn’t happening. Life is much too precious to take for granted.
It’s understandable to be disappointed and anxious during this chaotic and unsettling time of Covid19, but I encourage you to step beyond that and find the good and create the memorable. Each day is a new story that you make up as you go.
You may not have Fridays available to ‘play’ but perhaps you can create a fun cooking night as a couple/family or Zoom a dinner party to get caught up with out of town friends. Do you have any orchards within an hour drive that you can start a new tradition of going to pick your own berries? Are you able to volunteer to help others with shopping, delivering meals, yardwork etc.? Are there any old-fashioned board games or puzzles you can work on together? Are there any local activities that you can rediscover? Can you take an outdoor yoga class or stream yoga lessons on your tablet? You may not have a full day for a mental/physical get away, but you can look for blocks of time on a consistent basis to create meaningful experiences, destress and connect with yourself, family, friends and community.
It’s up to you to create your own atmosphere to thrive no matter what else is going on in the world. This year we have all been faced with unintended interruption and loss. Most of our economies (local to global) were placed in an “induced coma” to try to slow the spread of Covid19. Though we may have little control over other’s actions or state policies, we can choose our attitude and next steps.
Embrace the opportunity or decry the unfairness of life. Being miserable robs you of the moment and valuable time that you can never get back. Instead, use this as a valuable pause to reevaluate your lifestyle, values, spends, priorities, career, the place you live. I believe, especially in the USA, that we have been afforded the opportunity to recalibrate our lives to reflect true values and focus on what is important vs. being overwhelmed, busy and distracted all the time. 2020 still has the opportunity to be a blessing if you can embrace it and streamline your lifestyle so it reflects your true values and priorities. If you reflect, and are intentional with your thoughts and actions, I believe, you will find that you are actively creating a resilient type of lasting freedom.
