[Seek] Contentment With What Is

A friend and I were chatting the other day and they were stressing how greatly they yearn for things to go back to normal...or whatever it is that post-COVID-19 normal looks like. Another friend fears they'll grow increasingly anxious the longer it takes for someone, anyone, to give a firm timeframe for things moving toward normal.

Having no idea what is to come or how long we'll be living in this social-distancing, quarantined world is causing great stress and anxiety for many.

In thinking about this, I realized what a blessing my journey with chronic illnesses has been.

I'm actually surprised I'm not jumping aboard either of my friends' trains of thought. My anxiety should be through the roof. I should be obsessing about the what-ifs. I should be saddened by all the current cancelled plans and all those potentially to come. We could be dealing with all of this through the summer. We could not only be missing homeschool co-op Spring session, Mainstage, and the rest of our @ the table year, but we could be missing summer camp / vacation, which we look forward to from the moment we leave camp the previous summer!

Nevertheless, I'm not so worried about it all.

For the moment, I'm content with what is. Not the sickness and suffering, not the stress our healthcare and other essential workers are experiencing, not business closures and job loss, not the deaths and the danger - that can't end soon enough. 

I'm content, at the moment, with the staying home, spending time as a family, getting things done around the house, finding creative uses for our time and our talents. I'm grateful for slowing down, for rest and relaxation, for conversations with my children. I'm excited to see what good we can make of this time, no matter how long it lasts. I'm thankful for the increased appreciation of essential workers and the ability to go out and do things - may we continue to value others' efforts and appreciate all the things we used to take for granted. 

When I was first diagnosed with multiple chronic illnesses, so ill that my life screeched to a halt, I learned the blessings in going slow and in anticipating good things to come - that this disruption in life can also be an opportunity to weed out what's not working in your life and concentrate on what's really important. That changing plans can lead to beautiful things we would never have otherwise dreamed of.

I'm confident that, no matter what we miss out on, we'll be able to get there or do that eventually. We'll get to Camp Calumet, even if it's not when we had planned. We'll put on the play, even if it is a year later. We'll joyfully make time to visit out-of-state family as soon as it's safe to do so. And we will relish each of these experiences.