I was listening to the Awesome with Alison episodes about The Four Agreements, and Alison suggested thinking about the way my life has “padded the fall” of living through this pandemic. This is a lovely idea that I have kept returning to again and again, so of course, I’m writing a blog post about it.

As I write this, we have been sheltering at home for a MONTH with at least another month to go. It is strange and weird, draining and isolating, stressful and emotional – need I go on?? But as tough as this experience has been, my life is full of blessings that are definitely making it easier to live (and sometimes thrive!) during The Great 2020 Adventure. As Alison says, these blessings have “padded the fall.”

• Our Neighborhood: We live in a safe, flat neighborhood that is great for taking the kids on walks, scooter rides, and rollerskating outings.
• Our house: We have a house with three bedrooms, a living room, a den, and two bathrooms. In other words, we are able to get some space from each other. The front yard is big enough for the kids to play soccer. We might even get to use our pool next week when Pasadena gets some temps in the high 80s.
• Books: I have amassed quite a lovely library of books for the kids.
• Working appliances: Our dishwasher died last December, so hallelujah, we have a brand new dishwasher!
• My mindset: I have been working on my personal growth ever since I was diagnosed with postpartum depression in July 2013, so I have a lot of beliefs and attitudes that are making it easier for me to accept the current situation.
• Sidewalk chalk: We have tons of sidewalk chalk leftover from last summer. I hear its tough to get chalk these days! I’m glad we can adorn our sidewalk with colorful art.
• My therapist: I have a long-established relationship with my therapist and we have been able to continue video sessions through this pandemic.
• Vitamin B: I learned a few months ago that I have the MTHFR genetic mutation and need a special Vitamin B supplement. I started the Vitamin B supplement and have been sleeping so much better.
• No chronic pain: My shoulder went out in January 2019 and I spent pretty much all of 2019 working through that pain. I last saw my osteopath in December 2019, just before Christmas, and my shoulder has felt great ever since then. I feel so bad for anyone living with chronic pain during this adventure.
• My hobbies: I have hobbies! So! Many! Hobbies! Knitting, cross-stitch, doodling, paining… These hobbies help me calm down at the end of the day.
• Craft supplies: And I have craft supplies! So! Many! Craft Supplies! I have been meaning to declutter my hoard of yarn, felt, beads, thread, paint, glitter, and in the not so distant past, kept bemoaning my lack of time to declutter. And now: thank god! I have all the supplies my kids could possibly need to make it through this quarantine.
• This one is weird but bear with me: Last year, Julian’s school had to unexpectedly close from late March until mid-September when there was asbestos contamination. I gained about 23 pounds from stress eating. And those 23 pounds inspired me to examine my relationship with food and come to terms with my tendency to eat to numb my feelings. I learned how to be comfortable with feeling uncomfortable and now, I find that I am only occasionally stress eating during The Great 2020 Adventure. If the preschool asbestos situation had not forced me to confront my emotional eating issues, damn, I would have probably gained 50 pounds during the pandemic.
• Noom: About two weeks before Pippa’s school closed, I signed up for the app Noom. It’s a healthy eating program created by psychologists and after coming to terms with my emotional eating, I needed to address the psychology of my eating habits. I am still doing Noom and have lost about eleven pounds to date. Woot woot! I am so glad I had already established the habit of using Noom before the shit hit the fan.
• Meditation: I have had an on-again, off-again relationship with meditation for years, but I finally got into the groove of meditating about a year ago with the Calm App. I start most mornings with a ten minute meditation and I know meditation is keeping me sane during this unprecedented moment in history.

I could go on and on. The more I think about the things that have cushioned my experience of the Covid-19 crisis, the better I feel. I look around and see all sorts of things as blessings – like my dishwasher! When our old dishwasher crapped out during the Christmas holidays, I felt cursed. Now with enough time and perspective, I see that the timing was actually a blessing.

When “real life” returns, I hope I can remember that things which seem like curses might eventually transform into gifts and blessings.