I eat the protein
Take the magnesium
Cut the cardio
Lift the weights
The scale goes up
I look away
I want to love
Her
Me
It
My body
But she won’t conform
I am soft
Like new-fallen windswept snow
On objects in the yard
Rounded
Smooth
Glistening in the morning sun
What’s not to love?
Jeannine M. DeHart
What a mother 2020 is turning out to be, huh? Pandemic, mystery seeds from China, Tik Tok controversy, presidential election, political divides, and racial tensions. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’ve been on a roller coaster ride for the last five months and not a short-lived, fun-filled ride. More one that makes you puke when the coaster rolls into the station.
Shortly after the pandemic began, New Jersey was inundated with COVID-19 cases and I found myself unexpectedly working from home. I was excited by the prospect of having three hours of commute time to use in more productive ways than sitting in NJ highway traffic. I was excited to be the kind of present mom that working full-time had disallowed. I even wrote a couple of articles about how great all of this would be and how there was a silver lining to lockdown. I was so funny. I had grand, grand plans — I would clean the pantries, stock up on essentials in case the worst happened. I would make homemade, nutritious meals, and serve them at the proper dinner hour instead of at 8:30 pm. I would edit and polish my manuscript and shop it out to agents. I was excited about this new work from home gig.
At first, I did do many of these things. I greeted the teens with hugs and fresh eggs and toast for breakfast, or whatever their little hearts desired. A few hours later, I would make a healthy lunch for them, as well, and then start planning dinner around 3:00 pm. I promised myself I would workout every day and use the extra time to run a few more miles, too. I stoked my passion for trail running again, by getting out for lunchtime runs. I baked multi-grain bread, and homemade croissants that I had been promising to make for years, and years. I folded loads and loads of laundry. I painted and redecorated our laundry room. I cleaned feverishly to keep the germs at bay that my husband, a nurse, brought home from the hospital. I plowed full-steam ahead.
One day, I found myself getting irritated with the teen’s needy requests for breakfast, then lunch, then dinner. Really, what am I doing? I felt resentment seeping into my little, perfect, pandemic world. I mean, they’re both teenagers old enough to take care of their own meals. Next, I found it hard to sleep. All the tasks I had required of myself poked at my psyche while I tried to sleep, coupled with worries about catching the virus and what that would mean for our family. During the day, I found myself getting teary for seemingly no reason and feeling anxious. Still, I continued to pressure myself to get all the things done, ignoring the fact that I was also working a full-time job in the middle of trying to play Susie Homemaker.
I was learning how to navigate working from home with new technology, finding workarounds for easy, everyday corporate tasks, keeping in touch with those who work for me, and trying to sustain and prove my value within my new workplace environment. In addition, I don’t have dedicated office space at home, but rather shared our living room with two teenagers who were remote learning and navigating their own set of social and educational changes. At first, we managed to successfully occupy the same space all day, day after day until later in the afternoons when they were done with school and I still had work to do that required attention to detail. I found myself annoyed at every turn from normal teenage happenings. Add to the mix, my husband working on the frontlines, and I was struggling — hard.
One day, an email popped up from my gynecologist, which read something along the lines of ‘these are stressful times, and many of us may be feeling anxiety and depression. We are prepared to handle these issues via telemedicine.” Feeling exceedingly desperate, I called to make an appointment. I am hard-pressed to take an Advil for a headache, so talking this step was difficult for me, but I knew something had to change. I had been down this road seven years ago when my mom passed away, so I knew the anxious-trying-to-keep-it-altogether feeling and I knew medication had helped before. Days prior to the telemedicine appointment I felt dread, defeat, but also hope that I could find a way to manage some of what I was experiencing. My gyn discussed some options and I decided a short-term, short-acting anti-anxiety medication was worth a go. I filled my prescription, initially not even telling my husband. I was too embarrassed. I was keeping it all together, after all.
Despite my reservations about taking it, the medication certainly helped. I could finally sleep and give myself a little breather from all that was weighing me down. In this clarity, I realized I could no longer keep up the frantic, pandemic pace, and unrealistic expectations I had set for myself. I needed to make some serious changes.
First off, I fired myself as breakfast cook, and let the kids handle that unless I truly had the time and would enjoy making it. I let them fend for themselves for lunch. I stopped trying to bake homemade goodies and complicated dinners every day. I stopped vacuuming and scrubbing and disinfecting every day and somedays let the laundry pile grow large. I have a plan to carve out some dedicated office space before school starts up again, as it looks like we’ll all be home toiling away on our computers this fall. I’ve given myself permission to embrace the fact that these are uncertain, often scary times. I have allowed myself to adapt gently without feeling like I have to get everything done and get it done now. There are still days when I find myself chasing that non-existent Susie-Homemaker-Work-from-home rock star, but I try to temper the feeling with a heavy dose of reality.
If you’re struggling, like I was, don’t hesitate to reach out to friends, family, or professionals to help sort through those feeling so you can find balance again. I wish I had done it sooner. It is important to remember these are unprecedented times, and there is no right way to tackle every feeling and every new adjustment/development this pandemic is tossing at us. I lost myself for a little while in the thick of the pandemic chaos, but I also found how to take care of me.
After the prongs of honesty
I threw and you returned,
Pierced our white, underbelly flesh,
We sat in silence as the clock we never hear
Tick-tocked its way to the next moment.
Earlier I had decided to let frankness tumble from my lips
Instead of the routine, dry retreat of truth down
The back of my throat to halt conflict.
My belly bloated from the thorny spikes of unsaid things,
I had no choice.
It’s in my DNA,
That need to appease.
Fired off in my synapses
At the first, pungent whiff of relational decay.
Today, it needed a new pathway.
Afterwards, you retreated to the bedroom
Like a small sparrow,
Wounded by a cat with long claws.
I sat alone in the darkened living room,
The house cat behind the bush licking her paws clean.
Not because I was satisfied with the bitter meal,
But because I had done what should come naturally.
Featured Image by Monica Silvestre @ Pexels
When the lockdown in my state of New Jersey started, I wrote this nice little essay about how great the pandemic could be for our family because we would have all this glorious extra time. How wrong I was!
Here we are into week 5 of the lockdown and here’s how it’s going:
Working from home is hard when kids are also attending classes online. My mornings usually begin quietly. I get up first, let the kids sleep in a bit since they don’t have to log into school at any particular time. Then I walk the dog, fix a cup of tea, empty the dishwasher and open my laptop to start my workday while still in my pajamas. When I rouse the kids an hour later, my work focus becomes a little blurry. There are requests for breakfast, which I accommodate, because how often am I able to make them breakfast on a school day? After breakfast, it’s back to work for me as the kids log into Google Classroom to get their assignments for the day. Around mid-day, the teens get restless regardless of whether they’re done with their schoolwork or not. I encourage them to go outside for a little while, mostly encouraged because I need a break from them by that point.
Once school work is done, the ever-eating teens are looking for a meal again. I respond with “You’re on your own for lunch.”
After lunch, there is roughhousing, and laughing, and loud music as the teens try to unwind from their school day. Thank god they at least have each other to get through this new concept called social distancing in absence of their peers. I try not to get annoyed with them given that I’m still working for another few hours. We have a small condo without a lot of quiet, dedicated space for working from home. It’s usually at this point I retreat to the bedroom and pop in headphones so I can continue to work uninterrupted.
Around 3:00 I take a little break, have some lunch and run the vacuum or throw in some laundry.
If my husband is home, it can be more challenging to sink my teeth into my tedious accounting workday. He is a nurse, so on his days off, he is extremely stressed about the hospital working conditions and lack of Personal Protective Equipment(PPE) during this pandemic, which I wrote about here. Rightfully so, he finds it difficult to unplug from the news and social media. He can’t turn off the need to want to DO something to help resolve the horrendous situation healthcare workers are faced with each day. I am proud of him as he makes phone calls, reads news articles, and touches base with his nursing union and his colleagues. In the background, I am churning away with my boring accounting work, thankful I have a job that doesn’t involve any sort of risk, but it still requires my attention and focus, which can be hard found.
When my workday ends at 4:30, I push myself to pull on workout clothes and either go for a run, do a HIIT (high interval intensive training) workout or a boxing workout (great for relieving stress). Some days, the effort to move my body the way I’m accustomed feels heroic. Some days I just want to curl up and take a nap. Occasionally, napping wins. After I return from the run or finish a workout, there’s dinner to consider.
The hungry teens are again ransacking the cabinets looking for food exclaiming “there’s nothing to eat”, even though there are options, although maybe not the usual options since I’m limiting trips to the grocery store for our safety. I get dinner on the table somewhere around 7:30. I had envisioned finally being able to eat at a ‘normal time’ while working from home, which never happens during a regular workweek since my 3-hour daily commute has me pressed for time every single night. But, alas, dinner is still late.
On the nights my husband works, I’ll do my quick disinfecting routine after he gets home to rid the house of any possible COVID-19 germs he may have brought home, yet it’s impossible to rid the house of the stress we’re both enduring from his profession. We eat dinner even later those nights, so we can all eat together as a family. Then the kids take their longboards outside for an hour or so, while we catch up with each other. If my husband can turn off his stress-filled brain enough, we’ll watch a movie or binge-watch the next best thing on Netflix. If not, I’ll think about writing, but will usually instead end up scrolling Facebook, Instagram and coronavirus articles online, also finding it difficult to turn my attention away from the chaos in the world.
Then it’s bedtime. I will fall asleep for about an hour and then suddenly awaken thinking about the craziness of the world. My mind spins with questions like — will my husband lose his job because he’s advocating for safe working conditions? How will we make ends meet if he does lose his job? Will we get sick? Will I get laid off or furloughed? Even though I have a very secure job, it’s still a possibility. I drift in and out of restless sleep filled with strange dreams and unanswered questions until my cell alarm clock prods me awake the next morning to do it all over again.
At the start of the lockdown, I felt compelled to use all this supposedly extra time to be productive. I put a lot of pressure on myself to make the best use of this time. I had a list of things to get done and I did pretty well tackling the list.
I reorganized closets and cabinets.
I painted a hallway or half of it until I ran out of paint and couldn’t justify risking a trip to the store for more.
I baked homemade bread.
I made delicious comfort foods, including banana bread which seems to be a pandemic staple.
I made my own disinfecting wipes.
We have spent more time with the kids, and we’ve had some laughs including an impromptu karaoke dance party.
I’ve long craved a simpler life devoid of the chaos that usually overtakes my work week, so I thought this lockdown would provide me with an opportunity to embrace simplicity and to an extent, it has. However, it is hard to ignore we are in the middle of something we’ve never before experienced and it leaves us with dark, underlying, unsettled feelings which are difficult to shake. Despite my best efforts to draw up the corners of my little world and create a protective environment away from the uncertainty unfolding, I feel like outside my window the Big Bad Wolf is yelling, “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blooow your house down!” And, I’m scared.
My to-do list has gone out the window and has been replaced with simple tasks like; get out of pajamas, take a shower, make some food, and get my work done. The to-do list has been usurped by the fear of what comes next.
So, if you’re like me — finding it difficult to feel comfortable in our new lockdown roles, let’s all take a collective deep breath and give ourselves and those around us a lot of grace. These are uncharted waters for us, and we’re all in this together. Be well.
My husband has been a dedicated nurse for 17 years. Never in his career has he faced the life and death safety issues he now confronts every single day when he walks into the hospital to report for work. Every day he is, as a friend who also works in healthcare describes it, playing ‘Virus Roulette’ because healthcare workers everywhere are working without the proper personal protective equipment (PPE) and protective measures in place.
My husband is a nurse and I’m scared – petrified, in fact. I’m scared he will go to work, contract the virus and be the unlucky one who does not make it through. At the age of 54, he is healthy, but he is not a superhero immune to the illness, nor are any of his coworkers. I am scared he will bring it home to me and I will get sick and die. I am scared he will bring it home to our children, both teenagers, who will get sick and die. I am scared he will give it to his aging parents who are in the at-risk category. This is ONE nurse, in ONE family. Across the country there are hundreds of thousands of nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, and other healthcare workers who are being unnecessarily put at risk during this crisis. Everywhere, everyone is preaching – Stay Home, Social Distancing, Flatten the Curve. Why isn’t anyone screaming that these wonderful people trying to do their jobs are spiking the curve – unprotected, they are bringing the virus home to their families who in turn go to the grocery store for supplies, and those people then take it home to their families. In addition, anyone entering the hospital a non-coronavirus related issue is also at risk because that friendly nurse coming to assist you may have likely been exposed to the virus due to lack of appropriate PPE. So yes, we are all doing our part to flatten the curve, but there are gaping holes in our healthcare system through which the virus and all our efforts to stop it are pouring out.
My husband signed up to be a nurse to care for people, but not at the risk of his health or his family’s health. We are calling them heroes and soldiers in this fight against COVID-19, but they are being sent into battle without weapons or armor. Healthcare workers are only asking for – screaming for the proper protections so that they may do their jobs safely – for everyone involved. They are not asking to be excused from their duties, but rather to continue to perform their jobs knowing they are supported and protected by their employers and by extension, our Country. If our doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers all get sick or die, NO ONE will be there to take care of us or our loved ones.
My husband and his colleagues feel strongly they have already been exposed to the illness due to the lack of preparedness on the part of hospital administration. This same scenario is playing out in hospitals throughout the country and it is only getting worse day by day. Meanwhile, healthcare workers are waiting for the virus to either hit them, their families or those they work alongside. My husband wonders if each day when he walks into the hospital if it will be the dreadful day the viral load becomes too much and it will be his turn to get sick and possibly die. Will he walk into work tomorrow to find one of his coworkers is on a ventilator? It’s all a crapshoot – Virus Roulette
He came home last night and when I reached to give him a hug and kiss hello, he pulled back, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he said even though he had already changed out of his scrubs. He proceeded to immediately take a shower and throw his street clothes into the laundry. His face is etched with worry as he and his coworker exchange war stories, and strategies for keeping themselves safe. He anxiously watches and reads the news, watching the stories of unprepared hospitals in other states reaching capacities and healthcare workers doing their best to fight the war – like bringing a knife to a gunfight.
The other day, my husband felt compelled to reach out to the physician director of his hospital unit to express his discomfort in treating patients without the proper PPE, and in turn for reaching out, he was reprimanded by his supervisor. At every turn, healthcare workers are being told to hush – don’t speak out, keep your head down, and keep doing what you’re doing. They are turning to private Facebook groups to discuss the situation. They are afraid of speaking out for fear of losing their jobs. They are concerned about themselves, their patients, their families. They are concerned about everyone and carrying this heavy weight alone. Since when have we become a country who punishes people with the loss of their jobs if they bring up legitimate health and safety concerns? We need to find a way to support these people if we expect our healthcare system to support us during this pandemic crisis.
Healthcare workers are dealing with:
Healthcare workers immediately need:
My husband and I have had somber discussions about our wishes should either of us die. We have discussed him leaving his job, at the loss of half of our much-needed income. We have discussed him making a stand with his employer and his union at the risk of losing his job. He feels drawn to help, to do his job and not abandon his co-workers nor the patients who depend on him. In NJ we are awaiting the storm. In the next three weeks, we are expecting hospitals to be overflowing with patients. My husband is bracing for the influx of patients at the hospital and he has already been reassigned to other areas of the hospital to assist with the crisis.
Yes, my husband signed up to be a nurse – to care for and protect others – he did not sign up to do his job at the risk of his health, safety, and sanity and that of his family’s. Our healthcare workers are not expendable.
President Trump, are you listening? Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome Adams, CDC Director, Robert Redfield, CEOs of Hospitals, Directors of Hospitals, Heads of Nursing Unions, are any of you listening?
The idea of self-care has become a multi-million industry and a seemingly modern-day necessity, but maybe we need to start asking ourselves how we’ve gotten to this point?
Self-care is everywhere; yoga, girl’s weekends, wine, massages, meditation, and wellness retreats. Have you ever stopped to ponder why we need and seek out these outlets in the form of a pretty, little package entitled ‘self-care’? It is because we’re too stressed, too overscheduled, too plugged in. We’re too goddamn busy, too tired, too run-ragged, so we look around and say – oh, I really need to take care of myself. Maybe this deep desire for self-care is telling us something – the universe screaming at us to slow down.
We are drawn to self-care because:
24/7 Society – We live in a society where we are connected to technology all the time. Can’t sleep? Grab your phone off the charger and scroll Facebook or reach for your laptop and log into your work email. We have become a society that has trouble shutting down.
Poor Nutrition – We’re hustling from one thing to another on the daily. Get up for work, get kids ready for school, get to work, toil all day, maybe grab lunch at our desks, shuttle kids to activities, get dinner on the table, exercise, go, go, go. And where in that schedule do we stop to nourish ourselves – to enjoy a leisurely, healthy meal?
Sleep Deprivation – and speaking of our 24/7 society, this leads to sleep deprivation for most of us. Who gets that 7-9 hours of recommended sleep per night? Many of us are lucky if we squeeze in 6 hours of restful sleep. We’re often left burning the candle at both ends.
Corporate Culture – Long gone are the 9-5 days of corporate culture. We’re expected to answer emails promptly at all hours from home, even if we’re sick. We’re expected to check in on weekends and work endless, extended hours to get the work done. This can lead to burnout.
Relationship Burnout – We’re too burnt out from the hurried lives we lead to properly nourish relationships with the ones we love. Sometimes we are so burnt out from our hurried lives that it spills over into our relationships, leaving us with inadequate time and energy for those we love.
The good news is if we learn to restructure our daily lives, we may not push up against that wall of exhaustion. Here are some ways to incorporate self-care into our daily lives:
Unplug – Make the conscious effort to unplug when you get home. Set aside a no technology block of time so you can spend uninterrupted time spending time with family, working out, reading a book, going for a walk – anything to help you shutdown for a little while.
Meal Prep– While, I’m envious of people who can meal prep, unfortunately, I am not one of those people who is good at prepping my food for the entire week to come. If meal prepping doesn’t work for you, you can prepare enough dinner so there are leftovers the next day for lunch or while you’re chopping veggies for dinner, throw a salad together. Here are some good recipes that can be used for more than one meal or try these 30-Minute Clean Eating meals to save time in getting a healthy meal on the table.
Turn off Technology at Night – Mute your phone to all but the most essential callers, turn off any computer screens in your room, including the TV and make your bedroom a sleep sanctuary to aid in getting the recommended hours of sleep per night.
Set Reasonable Work Boundaries – While it is not always possible to push back against the 24/7 needs our work requires of us, it is possible to limit the time we do invest at work. Set some “off limit” hours while you’re at home when you are not available to answer emails, take calls, or do any form of work.
Couple Time – Use some of your off limit or technology-free time to reconnect with your partner.
Daily Self-care – Carve out small moments during the day to practice self-care. Here are some ideas:
Yesterday, I unexpectedly lost my sister-in-law,. My heart hurts for my brother and their two sons.
I went for a long walk on the chilly beach this afternoon to remember her. The powerful ebb and flow of the tide reminded me of what little control we have over how life unfolds. Maybe that’s where we find comfort in times like this – the ocean, the sky, the trees, the sun – will all be here doing their thing long after we’re gone. Make the most of every moment – hug your people close and never miss an opportunity to tell them you love them
Yes, coronavirus is bad. Yes, many of us are panicking. Yes, we will get through this.
First and foremost, try not to panic. I know — easier said than done. My anxiety level this week is inching into the red zone. The declaration by the WHO of coronavirus as a global pandemic is leaving most of us feeling somewhere between scared and terrified. We are experiencing an abrupt upheaval of our routines, our livelihoods, and the daily things we rely upon for stability. We are asking questions like — Do I have enough food in the house? Am I going to be paid if I have to take time off from work? Will my kid’s learning be derailed if schools are closed? Will my kids get sick? Will someone I love get sick or worse? Will I get sick? How long will I be stuck at home? Will the economy collapse? The list of weighty questions goes on. According to recent reports, most of us will recover if we are exposed to the virus. Still, ‘most of us’ does not mean all of us and that little fact is nagging in the back of our minds. We are feeling unsettled.
Coronavirus is certainly upending our lives. Any time our usual routine is interrupted, it is normal to feel rattled. Many of us will be forced to work from home, our kids will be logging onto Google Classroom from home, and we are practicing social distancing. These are new concepts to wrap our heads around, in addition to being bombarded 24/7 with ever-changing facts and figures regarding the severity of the pandemic.
Take a deep breath or three. What can we do? Other than following preparedness guidelines, the only thing we can do right at this moment is to concentrate on and appreciate what is right in front of us. Amid the panic and uncertainty, we can and should and need to find moments of solace. There are opportunities to make the most of the situation, despite the fray.
How many of us spend our weeks running around like chickens without heads — stretching ourselves thin to get all the things done? By the time Friday rolls around, most of us are burnt out from commuting, working, and the daily grind of household chores, shuttling kids to sports and activities and squeezing in time for our needs, such as fitness. Weekends are filled with shuttling kids to sports and activities, catching up on household ‘to-do’ lists, prepping for the week to come, and somewhere in the midst, finding time to relax and take care of ourselves.
There is a silver lining to social distancing and self-quarantining (provided you are not sick, of course) — we suddenly have the glorious gift of extra time. There is no commute, no rushing kids to activities, no last-minute trips to the grocery store, no grabbing dinner out because you don’t have time to cook a decent meal. Dear god, if nothing else, in the middle of the panic and chaos spinning by us, stop to realize this. There is always a flip side to the coin. Here are some ideas on how to use that extra time:
Connect with the Kids — Kids home from school? School and extra-curricular activities canceled? Put technology away. Turn off the TV. Take a lunch break from work and study. Start a game of Monopoly, do a puzzle, play cards, put on some music and dance, laugh and be silly. While it’s also important to address any questions/concerns your kids may have regarding coronavirus, take this time as an opportunity to talk to them about all the things you never seem to find time to discuss.
Connect with Your Partner — After the kids trail off to bed, turn off the tv, put down the devices, open a bottle of wine, sit on the couch with your partner and connect. Talk about your fears and concerns surrounding the virus if you must, but also find time to push aside the news to check in with each other about your lives in general. And, have sex, don’t forget the sex.
Multi-task — You may still have to log into work and supervise the kids studying, but you can throw in a load of laundry, run the vacuum when you have a break, stir something on the stove, or take time to help with homework.
Make the House Smell Good — If cooking and baking are your things, take the time you would normally use commuting to try out some recipes with items from your newly stocked pandemic pantry. Check out these plant-based recipe options by the Minimalist Baker.
Meal Prep — Make and freeze soups, stews, and casseroles. In the event your household comes down with coronavirus, you will have some nourishing meals ready to go.
Netflix — Binge watch Peaky Blinders, Good Girls, Dirty John, Ozark, The Pharmacist, Atypical, Unbelievable, and The End of the F**cking World — all good binges to start.
Selfcare — When was the last time you found a half-hour to fill up the bathtub, light some candles and slide into a bubble bath? Find a quiet place and meditate or do some yoga. Try a workout at home. Here are some good bodyweight-no-equipment-required moves to try.
Reorganize and Catch-up — Clean out that closet you’ve been meaning to reorganize, paint the room you bought paint for a month ago, knock off some of the little, niggling projects on your to-do list.
Wardrobe Comfort — No need to dress for opening the laptop and working from home. Unless, of course, you’re on a conference call — in that case, put on some goddamn clothes. Otherwise, pull on those comfy yoga pants and t-shirt or better yet, stay in your pajamas all day long.
Connect with Family and Friends — It’s likely many of your family and friends are home, too. Been meaning to call your brother? Been meaning to talk to your elderly Aunt? Have a friend you’ve been playing phone-tag with? Now is the time to check in on them via a call or Skype or Facetime or Marco Polo. Find time for a little distant socializing.
Laugh — While coronavirus is definitely no laughing matter, find something light and funny to watch on Netflix. Browse funny memes. Watch your favorite old TV re-runs.
Although we have no guarantees, as there are never any guarantees in life, it’s likely our lives will return to normal in a few months and we’ll be back to our busy lives stacked and stacked with things to do, but for now, try to breathe and appreciate the simple things right in front of you.
“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love.” ~ Marcus Aurelius
One minute your kitchen is full of people, their energy filling the room with laughter, chattering voices, cheeks flushed with wine — interaction, energy, connection, and then it fades. The conversation slows, yawns overtake laughter, wine-flushed cheeks hold up sleepy eyes. One by one, guests leave the table. Hugs ensue; thank-yous, goodbyes, and take-cares. Dishes are cleared of the lovingly prepared meal. Half-finished bottles of wine dot the table, the rush of the dishwasher humming in the background. The stove cleared of pots and pans — scrubbed clean. The leftovers packed neatly away in the fridge. The moment has ended.
All moments end — good or bad, happy or sad — all fleeting. Why do we often fail to see how quickly we move from one moment to the next? We are in constant motion, and with our movement, our feelings shift, as well. We feel pain or fear or dread or anger or some other emotion we perceive as negative and, distracted by those feelings, we forget the very next moment may unfold beautifully in an entirely different way.
The phrase, “this too shall pass” is an age-old adage with Persian roots which serves to remind us everything is temporary — every feeling, every situation, every moment. So, if you find yourself in a moment of intense pain or utter joy, try to pause, take a deep breath, absorb and appreciate the here and now with the knowledge that in a moment it will be but a memory.
Jeannine M. DeHart 