Health. Good health. Realizing how much you don’t realize you have it until something goes wrong. Feeling grateful that right now everyone in my circle seems to be healthy and this hasn’t hit them personally. I feel really grateful just to have connection to people too–even if it’s online.
What was most important to you before you had to social distance?
It doesn’t feel like it’s that different. What was important to me before is my loved ones and the people who I know who have had my back through it all. The interesting thing about this is that they’re still the most important thing to me throughout this. Family, my partner, my pups.
What’s the first thing you’ll do when this is over?
I was thinking about this yesterday. I think it’s tough because I don’t know what the concept of “over” is. I don’t know if this ever will be over or if we’ll actually be able to go back, but there’s a part of me that imagines just the sound of a busy crowded restaurant. Just enjoying your food with the chatter around you and feeling that warm Friday evening feeling at your favorite restaurant with people surrounding you. That city feel…where you just know there’s people and it feels lively. Also taking my dogs to a dog park.
What are you doing to pass the time?
A lot of things. I’m an only child so I think utilizing my time is something that I’m really used to, but the things that have been saving me–I feel really really blessed that I have a yard, and I’ve been gardening a lot–getting my hands in dirt and prepping to plant vegetables. That always gets me really grounded. I started the garden after my dad died 4 years ago. I never gardened before but for some reason after that it just became this church that I go to. So being outside in my confined space feels really good. Also drawing and snuggling with dogs is always the thing that I do. And baking. I’ve been eating a lot of cookies.
What makes you happy right now?
Gratitude. I keep going back to [the fact that] at least i have a home, at least I have people that I love, at least I have access to food if i need it. I think the things that keep making me happy are like, I don’t really need more clothes, I don’t need more things. I can stay at home if this is what’s called of me. I really can do that. That makes me happy to know that that’s easy. It’s easy for me to show up in that way. I get to spend more time with Mitch, which is an interesting blessing out of all this. In the morning we go on walks around the block and I’ve been noticing little things about my neighborhood that I don’t think I’ve ever noticed before. I think in a way it’s woken up a level of mindfulness that I didn’t really have before.
What would you tell yourself a month ago with the knowledge you have today?
I would tell myself just to remember to take things day by day. To appreciate what you have in the moment because the universe can pull the rug from underneath you. You think you have a plan. You think you know what’s gonna happen and you have to be really open to change because that’s the only constant in life. Right now that’s really what I’m trying to tap into. You can have a plan but ultimately you need to go with the flow of the universe.
