V: Power Up

Hey hey! I hope, as always, you’re keeping your head up and smiling. Maybe that’s all you can do right now, and that’s okay. Grab your coffee (or tea, or water, what have you), and hop aboard with me today!

It’s getting hard out here, you can just feel it. It’s so hard when you turn on the news each night to see the bright red headline “Coronavirus Pandemic Update”. It hurts my heart to see things like, “Italy’s Deadliest Day”, day after day, after day... I’ve got family over there, and I can only hope that they’re as safe as they can be. With each thing seemingly to be worse than the day before, it can get hard to stay upbeat. I get that, sometimes I don’t feel like there’s any end in sight. Everyone feels like this, so try to take a little bit of comfort in the fact that everyone feels this in some way. Maybe we’re not all in the exact same boat, but we’re all in the same lake.

Now that that’s all out of the way, let's look on the bright side shall we? I’ve found comfort in the fact that I know for certain that my city, my favorite city and my home, New York will bounce back from this. New Yorkers are resilient, powerful, and leaders of industry. While many (almost all) businesses are struggling from this, it was recently put into perspective for me; it will not take New York long to get back on its feet and hit the ground running. Even things like Broadway will flourish again. Think of all those beautiful performances that will happen since all of our favorite entertainers will have essentially been on a forced vocal and dance rest. Businesses will see the light again and jobs will come back. I never thought I’d say this, but I miss my part time retail job. While currently not an essential business, it’s still a fun business. Now maybe you’re not from New York, or even in New York. That’s okay, don’t think that your state has any less of a resilient chance-- because it does and it will fight it’s way back up there too. Everyone everywhere wants this to be over with. The world will take some time to heal from this, no matter where you are. Just keep in mind that “it takes time, as all difficult and important things do, for the world to recover what was done to it [this year]. But it [will] recover, and not just that, it [will] thrive”.

Now is the time to support your local places too. When this is all said and done and we can crawl back into our normal everyday patterns of how we live, go to that local dive bar down the street with your friends. Just go out with your friends. Or don’t even go anywhere, just go to each other’s houses or apartments. Go to your friends and family, and just be. Honestly, just cherish being able to be together again. Tell your people, to their faces (when you get to see them again), how much they mean to you. I promise you that it’ll be appreciated. For now, remind them of these little things virtually. It’s not much, but it’s all we have right now, and it’s everything. These little reminders can go such a long way.

This is no time to let this all come crashing down. As I try to be one of those people that thinks that everything happens for a reason, it’s very difficult to find the reason as to why this would happen. Were we too comfortable living the way we were? Did we take it for granted? Maybe we did, maybe we didn’t, who’s to say. It’s nothing we can change now, so let’s look ahead to all that we’ll get to do after this. Maybe that means living a little more fully, taking that risk, really just living. If one virus can sweep the nation this quickly, just imagine how quickly we’ll be able to get back on our feet again.

I’m also one of those people that tends to need to document everything. At parties, I’m the one that pulls out the Polaroid camera (yeah… I’m one of those people) for the perfect shot or even the candid. But I also keep so many journals and logs. I know writing isn’t for everyone and I get it, you kind of have to make yourself write sometimes. But, along with my personal notebook that I kept before all this happened, I have a new one that I use to keep track of my daily victories. Sometimes the only thing written on the page is “got up”, or “got dressed”. And I already thank myself for those small things. On other pages I have things like “zoomed with my friends”, “took a long shower”, “sat on my balcony and enjoyed the sun”, ect. Some pages even have letters to my friends; just brief things that made me think of them or something. It’s not all about making long dramatic realizations, but if you can look back and say, ‘I beat this weird isolated time by waking up and being me’, that is most definitely a victory that should be celebrated. I know that someday I’ll be able to look back and really give myself a proper thank you, for just being.

Now is the time to power up and recharge. Do what you can with what you’ve got, and you’ve got so much going for you right now. This could always be so much worse. Yes you’re inside and away from things, but the sun rises and the world keeps going. You can’t stop the world from turning, just like you can’t stop yourself from living.

As always, I’m gonna leave you with some song lyrics. Music is my thing and I love some good dramatic lyrics to end with…

“This time is ours, if I could hold this moment in my hands, I’d stop the world from moving, I’d stop the clocks from turning”. (Ours by The Bravery)

Stand Clear Of The Closing Doors Please,

Lex