THE BEST/WORST
Hello Luscious,
Sarah here. I’m beginning to think that Covid is the BEST/WORST thing that’s ever happened. It is the full enchilada experience of life: all the joy and love and generosity and connection on top of all the fear, frustration and pain. It’s full frontal humanity, and I haven’t spoken to one human being over the past month and a half who hasn’t been impacted physically, emotionally, or spiritually.
And now that we are six weeks (plus) into this thing, I’ve processed tons of feelings, and I’m really getting present to the lessons and the gifts of this time.
One of the biggest lessons is that we can make anything work. Pre-Covid, when Mirabelle had a sick day, you would have thought it was the end of the world. Matt and I would look forlornly at our schedules and decide what could be moved when. It was HARD and BURDENSOME. There was moaning and groaning along with some big time victim mentality. Cute.
When the first announcement came that school would be shut down for two weeks, we quickly put a schedule into place. I work half days Monday through Thursday in 5-hour blocks and Matt works the opposite block. I work all day Friday and he works all day Saturday. It ain’t perfect, but it works for us. Because of the nature of my work--coaching and leadership training calls--I am hyper-scheduled, but I also have some flexibility in when I can make myself available. When I’m not working, I’m with Mirabelle, helping her with her lessons, going for walks, playing with the dog, cooking and cleaning. And when Matt’s not working, he’s managing these gigs. RINSE AND REPEAT.
You know what? This time of lockdown is pretty much the equivalent of one looooooong sick day and we make it work--and make it work pretty well I might add.
I know that through all of this, Matt and I are in a sweet position - we work for ourselves, and we are a team. We’re not essential employees like the folks who work in hospitals or grocery stores, or pharmacies who have no choice but to keep their schedules, put themselves and their families at risk of getting sick, and hold off the complete societal collapse. We’re lucky, but we 100% worked our butts off to create that in our lives. Not for Covid, just for our own familial freedom.
But what this situation made me realize is that even though I “knew” intellectually that I could create whatever schedule I wanted, I never created it. I just worked and worked and you know - worked. Now that I have this external force crunching my work time into those tight 5-hour blocks, I’m really getting to experience what my work-life balance can be. I’m looking ahead to the summer and excited to create time off and build luscious space into my schedule.
For all the hardship, and complications, and real human suffering this whole pandemic has brought, it has also opened my eyes and challenged my beliefs about what is and what isn’t possible for me and my family. None of us know what the future holds--we never did--but now that fact is present every day, in many moments.
Have there been gifts of Covid for your family life? Your work life? What beliefs are being challenged for you? We’d love to hear how things are going at your house.
We know how hard you are all momming right now. The sheer force and velocity of it all, if harnessed, could solve our alternative energy conundrum. You are giving your best during the worst possible time. We see you. And with a mere 11 days to go until Mother’s Day, we at LM HQ are scheming up some ways to remind you how special, important, and Luscious you all are to the rest of the humans on this planet. Keep your eyes on our FB and Insta social media feeds so you don’t miss a thing.
Love,
