Sharing Positivity in this Perplexing Time

Right now is an unprecedented time in everyone’s life. People around the world are becoming ill with Covid-19, finding themselves suddenly laid off, the stock market is a mess, businesses are closed, children are home from school, and oh so much more.

Personally, our state of Washington is on stay home orders. I am now unemployed. My husband is working from home part-time. Kiddos are out of school for at least another month. We have a new baby coming into this crazy situation any day now.

I easily fall into a downward spiral when I let my mind take-off and overthink all of the current unknowns in our life and world. As a mega-planner, I try to gauge what our life will look like in 3 months. A truly unproductive thought process, that takes me down a dark road. I constantly remind myself to shift my perspective. To look for the silver lining in this situation. To find the joy of living in this moment. To appreciate each day as it comes. Breathe deeply. And ultimately really see the good in the now.

One of our little family traditions is sitting down to have dinner around the table each night. No distractions, just time to learn the happenings in everyone’s day at work, school, and daycare. Yes, there are evenings when putting on a show for the kiddos allowing us to all zone out, eat quietly, and start decompressing from the day sounds fabulous. Yet, every single time we sit down around the table to eat as a family I am immediately thankful for the conversations and the precious moments we are creating together.

Unsure how it started, but for the last year, within minutes beginning to eat, our 4-year-old asks the question, “Favorite part of the day?”. Some days the kids are silly and say things like “Mine hasn’t happened yet. It will be when we get dessert later!”. It never fails that at least one person a night chooses “right-now” dinnertime as their fave part of the day. The rest of the evening preparing for bedtime has a different energy. I am a firm believer it has everything to do with the change of gears and shift in my perspective of the day. Focused a little more towards the positives of the day and not the stress of everyday life.

What if we all applied this sharing of our favorite part the day to our lives right now? We can switch our focus to what we can control: how we receive the events or situations in which we find ourselves. I am not naive enough to think or suggest that we shouldn’t be concerned, worried, or proactive in our choices towards this pandemic. There will be sadness and fallout of epic proportions for sure. We need to acknowledge that pain and digest it accordingly. However, doesn’t that seem to come more naturally for many? If we can just slightly shift our thinking, or appreciation for what we are learning through this journey then maybe at the end of it all, and it will end, it won’t be all for not. We must come out of this a changed person and society as the world itself is changing drastically.

I ask you, “What was your favorite part of the day?”. What have you gained today that’s impacted you in a positive way? Did you learn something new? Spend that quality one-on-one time with your husband that you haven’t had in years? See your child’s face as they learned something new? Take some time for self-care and enjoy a little face mask? Accomplished something that’s been on your to-do list for a year? FaceTimed with your grandma? Talked to a friend from high school?

Share your pictures of your favorite moments on social media and let’s start a movement. Tag @roadknotttaken and use #todaysfave #mypositive