Where ever you go, there you are. This statement was never truer than in this moment, in this time of social distancing and sheltering in place. Even more so now that we are beginning to realize that this pandemic-induced isolation isn’t going to last a meager few weeks but rather many long months.
The past three weeks have been strange to say the least. We’ve seen so much change in interactions with our families, communities, cities, state, country. Day-to-day life has been turned upside-down because there is a constant undercurrent of fear and unknown. How long will this go on? How sick can we get? How many people will die? How many of my family and friends will get sick? Will I get sick? My partner? My kids?! It’s all terrifying and overwhelming. These thoughts are most vivid for me after watching the morning news and catching intermittent NPR clips - but like many people that are not essential workers or a family member of one - I find myself quickly distracted by the needs of the NOW, my small microcosm of reality that consists of a house and a backyard and three people in need of my continued love and support; my partner and two small kiddos. Where ever you go, there you are…
The days seem to fly by with home schooling a kindergartner and entertaining a toddler. Breakfast sails into lunch and I thank God that my kid’s teacher emailed a schedule otherwise I would have certainly lost my mind with the “I’m boards!” by now. Everyday I’m overwhelmed by playing the role of a teacher, housekeeper, cook, laundromat, entertainer, mother, wife. My kids love existing in this little nucleus and I love seeing them imagining together. I know they will remember this time much more differently than me - pajama days and movie nights, popcorn on the trampoline and breakfast for dinner - the eternal Spring Break. And I try to stay in the moment with them as much as I possibly can but it’s challenging at times. It’s difficult for me to get caught up in the imagining of a tea party even though, what the hell else do I have to do? What’s more important than this? It breaks down to the fact that I don’t have as many distractions and so I try to make them up - my modus operandi . Where ever you go, there you are…
I miss my sisters and girlfriends. I miss restaurants and the ease of going to the grocery store. I miss conversations that don’t revolve around Covid-19. I miss hugs. I miss coaching because I want to have those real and deep conversations with my clients that ground me and remind me of my purpose. Everything seems to be on hold, put on ice, like the copious amounts of frozen food in our freezers. Wherever you go, there you are…
We cannot escape ourselves. For those of us that are not on the front lines of this war, for those of us that have the advantage of slowing down, I challenge you as I challenge myself to take the opportunity to look within, to consider how you want to show up in this world. I challenge you to sit and be with yourself and to love and accept that glorious human. Celebrate your strengths and cuddle your weaknesses. Hold yourself close as you would your sisters and brothers that can’t feel your embrace. Then pick up the phone and connect IRL to those that need you most because you need them just as badly. Wherever you go, there you are.