Embrace the Suck

In this world of the unknown, we're evolving, we're exploring, we're digging down deep into the recesses of our previously hidden cores and trying to find purpose...even when we don't realize we are doing this.. And this is good people. This is wonderful. Tragedies lie in the events leading up to their climax but do not have to remain tragedies at their end and this is all dependent on what each individual character takes on as their path. Before Covid, our daily struggles seemed huge, ginormous, stressful, perhaps just tedious. Now, they are compounded by the unknowing, the lack of reassurance that we will prevail as a society, as a family, as individuals. We have two choices my friends. We can let these burden us and weigh us down to the pits of anger, sadness and self wallowing or we can take them on one at a time with armor made of resilience and determination and yes, confidence (even if forced at first...it will come).

We all struggle, that's the truth. And, yes, it's relative. But we are all brave souls if we've made it this far in life. We have not given up and we will not give in. Something as small as making your bed in the morning after you jump out of it with sleepy eyes but an excited mind can enliven your soul and push you to pass your limits for that day. This is something anyone can do and should do. Make a to do list, plan a daily schedule in your phone's calendar, cover your walls in post-it notes, whatever it takes. Little reminders of daily tasks that can be accomplished will not just get the shit done, but will make you feel more accomplished than you did before you completed them. Working from home with kids is likely an additional struggle with which many are coping. Quiet rooms are probably hard to find in a house bustling with children and possibly another working spouse so maybe those working hours are quiet hours for the kids, if trained well ;) I've discovered my car is actually a fantastic place to work. It's comfy, quiet and I miss being in it as it were! But I acknowledge this is harder to accomplish. Maybe this is time for boundaries in the home, or to set aside time where mom or dad is not be bothered...when this over and you go back to your work sites, keep those hours as yours and do with them what you will!

Adding tasks to an already busy day is surely something that sounds a little crazy at this moment but it can actually provide some type of normalcy to your day that will help it all make sense by the time your overtired body hits the bed. If you're alone at home or with an older teen who is rarely spotted unless hungry or out of underwear then scheduling your day is certainly easier, I'll tell you that. I've added routine, mundane tasks to my now empty calendar due to unemployment. Things such as organize my summer clothes, sell whatever doesn't fit, go through the cabinets and throw out the unnecessaries, workout, read a book you've have sitting on your bedside for weeks, pluck my eyebrows. All simple and maybe even trivial in some eyes, but they have kept me moving throughout the day with a plan that I review every morning with coffee and the sunrise. Add to that studying for a certification exam to sell insurance an annuities, cooking three meals, working on my previous business to bring it back to life hopefully soon and checking in with friends, and my day is rather complete. Complete not because I stayed busy, but complete because I'm discovering I need time to think, to figure it all out and I'm doing it. Time to just breathe and time to be productive outlined so as not to feel like my To-do list is overwhelming. It went from being unmanageable to something I look forward to doing. Of course, I'd rather be working my business every day, bustling around town like a busy little bee, making money and probably complaining about how little free time I have but I cannot change the situation. So I best make do with what I've been handed. And I may even pick up a few new healthy habits along the way that can be incorporated into my next phase of work life after Covid.

I can hear it now, four months from now "Man, I should have made more use out of all that extra time I had at home during quarantine". Don't create another regret while you still have the power to change the ending. You don't need to challenge yourself to learn a whole new language or complete 57 Pinterest projects but maybe just little things that amount to big memories. Do something now you'll remember after Covid that will make you tell your children happy stories ten years from now about what life was like. I don't want to have to tell my kid "I was so terrified of going broke that I basically drank wine and scrolled through TikTok all day until you needed food". (If I'm being honest, this did occur a couple of times until I lit a fire under my ass and started changing the way I woke up!) I'd much rather say "It was damn tough, no doubt, but I started a new business selling insurance and annuities, revamped my old business, taught you how to cook and how to take care of a house, started drawing and painting more than ever before, finally started a workout routine and it turned out I needed that pause to do all these things. And best of all, we didn't go broke and we made it."

Baby steps is really all it takes, they become the big leaps and bounds. We did this as children, as teens, and young adults starting our careers, we can certainly do this now. And best of all, not only will it empower us as individuals but it will also provide a perfect example to our children and friends of how to embrace the suck, push through and make it out more than alive on the other side, reborn even.