Isolation, Work, Stress, Virus

How are we coping?

These days are sent to test us...test our patience, our humanity, our stress levels, our ability to function in isolation. Let's face it, we are a social species. Mankind, humans, humanity, what does this mean to you?

For me this virus has brought out the best and the worst of humanity.

We see extremes of selfishness and extremes of selflessness.

This astounded me. People buying freezers and stock piling food, no care for their neighbours, for the NHS workers, the teachers the fellow human beings who turned up, at hundreds of stores, after work to find this.

In complete contrast though, we constantly hear about and witness the heroism of humans caring for other humans.

Someone said to me, what's all this fuss about the NHS? They're just doing their job.

I replied, doing paperwork is a job, what they do is a calling. Any profession where you care for other human beings is a calling. A role where people constantly go above and beyond that which is expected of them.

It's so much more than a job.

So, how are we coping? Many of us define ourselves by the job we do. What are you? A CEO, a policeman, a designer, the list is endless. How do we define ourselves when this is taken away. What are we then?

A human being.

First and foremost, we are part of this incredible race of people who live on this planet. Losing our roles, and the means of identifying ourselves, takes away just that, our identity. For many of us there is insecurity, panic, a sense of loss , of isolation.

There are very few of us who can function in seclusion. We are social creatures, and so I say again, this virus has come to test us, to make us question our very identity.

Through it all will we look for communality? For what brings us together or for what divides us? Those that are of the stock piling mentality clearly are looking to divide, to hoard and embrace greed and a 'screw you' attitude, I'm alright and I don't care about anyone else.

But look closer and you will find those quietly giving, those who would share with others, who would look to pay it forward.

It is with this attitude that humanity will thrive.

So when the stress is looming and you find yourself lost for your identity, struggling to understand the greed and baser side of humanity, or simply exhausted from caring for your own children with no respite....Breathe, be still and breathe.

As a spiritualist, I look within for peace, for the stillness of just breathing, of meditation and inner calm. In every journey we ever embark upon we must first begin within.

Change is inevitable, apart from death, it is the only certainty of life, everything changes. It is only when we look to cling to that which we are losing that we encounter pain. There is peace in embracing change, accepting the inevitable and learning to let go and flow.

As the prayer goes

(to whomever you chose to pray to - if you pray at all)

Grant me the courage to change the things I can change.

The serenity to accept that which I cannot change.

And the wisdom to know the difference.

This virus is scary and it is not helped by the hype of the media and the uncertainty many of us are facing with our jobs; the forced restraint thrust upon us for our own protection; the greed of other humans behaving like panicking sheep....but in the midst of it all, try to find time to stop, to feel your heart beating in your chest, your lungs breathing, and give thanks for these simple gifts.

Look to the time you now have with your children as a gift, see the joy on their faces, as I do every single day that I teach them and hear their laughter.

Walk outside and feel the sun on your skin, sit beneath the trees and breathe and give thanks for simple pleasures.

Redefine yourself.

Slow everything down, take time to be still and be thankful.

Sometimes when we change our point of view.... everything changes.

Let's be living examples of how humans care for other humans.

In the end, we truly are just walking each other home.

Peace & light to you my friends

Ceci xxx

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