When I write, it is out of the stories that I witness.  This is how life goes, we experience and (I believe) learn something from the knowledge we gained during that time of our lives.  We are here to learn from one another, to help, and to show compassion.  In this era of Covid19 and life still moves forward.  Slower, possibly than we would prefer, yet we have still witnessed birthdays, and graduations, and first steps and even the passing of loved ones.  We see progress in new construction, food establishments, have gotten creative to serve customers, and somehow, we have adjusted.  

That is what we do.   Adjust.   That is what this life is about, is adjusting to a new normal.  We did not know how to live with a new person after getting married, yet we adjusted.  Not having any idea of how to take care of a new baby, and being more tired than we have ever been in our lives, we managed and adjusted, until we figured out a routine, and now what we live a routine we call normal.  Starting a new job, has some uncertainties, and we may have been promised something that did not quite work out like we thought would be.  We move to a new city, with the spouses’ new job and nothing feels right, the house is smaller, we have few new friends because of Covid19, and nothing seems to fit.   But we adjust. 

Many if not all times, what eventually happened is that our attitude adjusted to what is around us.   

We still marry, the marriage is still the same, and we still have the baby we brought home from the hospital.   We work out instead of doing nothing, we meet new people and we spend time doing other things than we used to, the house is still around us, and the city is still the same, but we made a decision to make the best of it and change a few things so that this new normal is not miserable.   All of our emotions are real and need to be understood, but when we get caught up in the thought that “ this is not how it should be, or I wasn’t ready to let him/her go”  some times we get stuck in that mindset of what was not planned.    What can you adjust?  Can you change your new city, or your house, or death or new baby or being tired?  Few things can change, but easier than physically changing, is changing how we look at it all. 

In uncertain times, it is challenging to keep our minds in the positive frame.  Our brains are created to protect us from danger.  When we perceive that there is possible danger we live in fear and doubt.  As we face a season of uncertainty, with an overload of information, we will adjust and know that really this is a time that tries our faith.  We will adjust to a different way to dine out, or make new friends, or work from home.  But if we really change how we can think about the adjusting, the changes, we can live more peaceful, and content life without anxiety or stress of all the external unknowns.

–Lori