Look at how far you've come
Right now, there’s no escaping the reminders that this month will mark a year of us living with the global pandemic and the subsequent restrictions on our life that it’s brought. The photos of all the “lasts” have started creeping up in Facebook and Instagram memories, the media is full of hot takes, and it feels like every conversation starts with “can you believe it’s almost been a year?”.
All of this reflection on the last year can feel tough. Even with a roadmap out of lockdown laid out, it can feel tricky to sit with all that the last year has brought. The grief, the worry, the isolation, the loss. If it feels hard for you to reflect, that’s because it is hard - especially while all of our emotions and experiences still feel so raw.
But today I wanted to encourage us to reflect in a different way. To engage in a reflection that feels more hopeful than those you’ll find in the news. To reflect in a way that isn’t about lingering on all of the challenges of the last year, but instead holds space for us all to realise just how far we’ve come.
I don’t know about you, but if Sophie of February 2020 could have known what was on the horizon, she’d have told you that she wouldn’t be able to cope with it. Wouldn’t be able to cope with being cut off from family. Wouldn’t be able to cope with running a business solo during a pandemic. Wouldn’t be able to cope with a whole year of uncertainty and worry, fear and frustration.
And yet, here I am. I coped. And you did, too. You coped with working from home and homeschooling your kids and keeping in touch via Zoom. You coped with celebrating birthdays alone and adapting your Christmas plans and finding ways to stay entertained within the same four walls. You coped with the endless press conferences and the constant knot of uncertainty and the monotony of so many days in lockdown. You coped with the isolation and the loneliness and the worry and the fear. You are still coping.
And coping isn’t all you’ve done. You’ve clung to joy and practiced gratitude and kept on searching for hope. You’ve cultivated a level of strength you didn’t know you had. You’ve created and connected and engaged in so many hard things. You’ve walked and you’ve played and you’ve baked and you’ve grown. You’ve achieved so much, both big and small, in this last year, despite the fact that the world was exploding in chaos around you. Do you know how bloody incredible that is?!
So in the coming weeks, as the chatter about the anniversary of lockdown life increases in volume, try to hold onto that. Yes, this last year has looked nothing like any of us could have expected it to. Yes, it’s been really bloody tough. Yes, we all have wounds that will need healing when all of this is over. But you’re still here. You’re still coping. You’re still keeping on, keeping on.
Look what you managed to do. Look at how far you’ve come. I hope you feel proud.
