Quarantine {Lessons in Resilience}

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Resilience

My family has not ventured beyond our driveway or our dead-end street since March 12, with the exception of my husband’s trips to procure food. I am sure many of you reading this have a similar story. 

To my own personal shock, I have been actually enjoying {gasp!} my time secluded at home with our family of four.

Do I worry about and miss my parents? You bet. Am I tired from balancing work and homeschool all from the confines of our house? Yup. Am I craving a trip to a coffee shop? Sure. Am I concerned for the state of the earth and the well-being of humankind? No doubt.

Despite all of these losses and worries, we trudge on. In fact, because of these losses and worries, we are learning an invaluable life lesson: resilience. 

My husband and I spent an entire year planning an epic surprise trip to Disney World this April. Well, Disney World is closed. Our epic trip is now rescheduled. Sure, it’s a bummer. But we’re healthy, and many in the world are not. Let’s move on.

Our kids are sad and miss school. My daughter had been practicing every day for her first Glee Club performance, which was canceled. My son will likely never officially finish preschool. They miss their friends and their teachers. They beg to go to the library and the playground, where we are forbidden.

Are our current circumstances normal or fair? No. But life isn’t normal or fair. Yes, this stinks. The world is in a bad place. We do not need to, and surely should not blindly accept that the current status quo is how our and our children’s futures will forever be. However, whining about how life isn’t fair gets us to the proverbial nowhere. 

Last night my daughter sat in my lap on the bathroom floor weeping. She wants to go back to school but feels guilty for saying that out loud because she is afraid of hurting our feelings. She is let down, frustrated, and confused – and rightfully so. But she’s also not made out of glass. Unfair things will happen. She will feel deeply. Get angry. Cry from sadness. And she will also move forward. Learn from mistakes. Innovate from failure. Persevere in the face of injustice. 

And so, the four of us have made the best of this lackluster start to 2020. We have seen our community come together, and our family grow closer when the world seems to be falling apart around us. We are safe, healthy, thankful, and we are resilient.

One foot in front of the other. 

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Hilary
Hilary was born and raised in New York City. She moved to Connecticut after college to go to graduate school, where she met her husband Dan on their very first day. She now lives in Ridgefield with her husband and their two rugrats, a daughter C (born 2013) and a son L (born 2015). She works from home as an attorney, which would be completely impossible without coffee (for mom) and television (for the rugrats). She spends most of her free time (when there is any!) reading, drawing, and listening to lots of music. You can find her over at https://www.instagram.com/apinchofsaltus/, where she documents the humor of life through all things colorful.

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