It would be good if we could just wake up tomorrow and find that the pandemic had gone away. After all of these weeks sheltering in place and making sacrifices and watching bad things happen all over the world, it feels like we deserve a quick resolution. And yet, it is becoming clearer and clearer that the end will not be as we would like to see, that we might indeed have to find a way to live with COVID-19 and its requirements for longer than we want. From this realization, we need to set a path for acceptance and defiance. The virus will not win this war, we will, and with a bit of time, we will see this to be true. Till then we need to remind ourselves that there is a future that is better than today feels. We can start to build hope, for example, by sharing positive stories with each other, by planning for vacations and adventures and by connecting with friends from places far away. As we cultivate hope and do it regularly, we will start to feel better and life will not feel as scary or hopeless. We have this one, it will just take a bit of time and right now we have time on our hands. Here’s to cultivating hope with a bit of “water” and “air” and all will be good.

Loving life when I am cultivating hope

joe