Being socially distant and staying home can certainly be a challenge. We have suddenly found ourselves working from home and exploring new ways to do even more on line. I have been asking myself what will I learn from this? And more importantly what do I want to learn from this? I plan to come out of this “lock down” and have accomplished. I want to extrapolate the most out of this temporary and historically monumental moment in time. Somewhere along the way I’ve embodied the belief that when life hands you lemons – make lemonade. I believe this is called resilience. It is also known as the growth mindset.Thank you mom and dad. I get that we are all facing a potential decrease in income and continued bills in our inbox. This isn’t trivial. At the same time we are all looking forward and wondering what forward will look like. I get it, I truly do. It can be daunting and scary and anxiety building. But I challenge you to see the gems that lie amongst the rubble.

We all have to do’s that we “should” get too. We all have odd jobs, unfinished projects and hobbies collecting dust. Why not make them a bolder in your calendar? Why not come our of isolation and feel lighter, accomplished, focused?

I’ve been hearing concern with the latest news that we may be here for twelve more weeks. I’ve also heard concern that we may be here for longer than twelve weeks. Regardless of how our new temporary normal evolves we are here. Staying home and executing the un natural and awkward rules of social distancing … it’s a true test of patience and a space for gratefulness. But if we are needing to stay home for lets say, twelve weeks … just think of what you can accomplish in twelve weeks! In twelve weeks you can lose weight, develop a business plan, lean in and love the shit out of your significant other, and learn a whole new skill. There are endless online how to courses right now. From learning how to handstand to learning how to master an excel spreadsheet to learning another language. And while there are master classes and online how to’s a plenty, at the end of the day it’s about our people … our relationships. Sure you can learn to speak Spanish, but who will you speak it to or with? Yes you can learn to do a handstand but who will you show or share the video with? Whether you are staying home and are with family, your partner or are alone I ask you … when things settle and we have the freedom to get back to life, what is the first thing you will do? Who is the first person you will see? And hug? Is it about seeing your partner and loving on her/him?Is it about connecting with your friends? Is it about seeing your parents?

For now, and more than ever, we need to stay connected to our people. It is essential to stay in touch with life. There are a multitude of ways that we can stay connected right now. Facetime, zoom, facebook chat for kids, Netflix party … the list is endless. We should be oh so grateful for this in and of itself. Aside from technology keeping us connected there are still many hours to fill, and endless ways to express love and gratitude for our people. And it is in times like these, when we feel lonely, excluded, sad and even disconnected when we need to dig deep and lean in. This is an ideal time to invite gratitude to the table and express it. Because remember – you can’t feel resentment or sadness when you are grateful – they don’t play together. Gratitude supersedes the darkness.

Expressing gratitude and spreading love should be paramount right now. I do believe this is an always statement but sometimes it’s adversity that helps us see this more clearly. Send your partner a playlist of songs that make you think of her/him. Cull a slideshow of photos from a recent trip and share it. Send a video message telling your person your favourite thing about them. Draw a picture or write a letter to someone you love. Invite your friends to a zoom dance party. Declare crazy hear day and share the photos with your crazy hair day friends.

Love your people … and you just might find that the reward is two sided.