Covid-19 and social distancing for the last couple of weeks has been stressing me to my limit as it probably has for you too. Being off my routine, in lockdown mode (I know, safe at home) worrying about business stuff and family stuff and with a lot fewer warm hugs has really knocked me off my game. Can’t sleep, stress eating, not getting out to run (worsens everything) and a low level anxiety from everywhere have been the new norm…the negativity creeps on you and before you know it, it’s hitting you hard. Thankfully, my friend Tim Cole sent me a link to an insightful article by Mitch Albom in the Detroit Free Press which I really needed today. Mitch writes about Knox who has an incredible story…a blessed ray of sunshine all the way from Haiti that helped Mitch find his one thing.
My one thing…this weekend, my 9 year old son finally learned to ride his bike overcoming a ton of anxiety. He’s been putting it off for years. There was a super stress moment and some tears but he pushed through and of course, once he got the hang of it he didn’t want to stop. He rode about 8 miles before the day was done and he didn’t let me help in any of it except to cheer him from a distance and adjust the seat and the brakes a few times. This win was all him! I got a long warm hug for the assist and then he let go but came back and gave me a second long warm hug, bonus! :)
In writing this I also realize for the umpteenth time, that we have rays of sunshine all around us all day every day. We just have to get out of our funk and look for them. Life’s best things are the littlest things right under our noses.
As these next days and weeks come and go, find your one thing(s), your rays of sunshine, and count your blessings. And if you can, help someone else find theirs because we are all of us everywhere on quite the rollercoaster. Thank you Mitch and thank you Tim!
What is your one thing?