Life in Uncertain Times

By Valerie Savino

During the second week of the stay at home order, as I was sitting on the couch late one night, watching the news and drinking wine, I suddenly burst into tears. I was quite surprised by this, as I hadn’t seen it coming at all. Before this happened, I thought was handling things pretty well. After all, I regularly participate in a meditation group, and generally meditate several times a week on my own. I usually have a positive outlook on life and feel good about the future. So, why did I feel this way?

I started thinking about all the change that had happened so quickly in our world, and how I couldn’t be the only person who felt this way. For many of us, the future seemed very uncertain. People were loosing their jobs, and the closeness of family members and friends. Schools and churches were shutting down. All our support systems were going astray.

Despite all this, there are still many things to be grateful for in our lives. I personally am grateful that we still have a regular income, and that I haven’t lost any family or friends to the virus. I have a nice, comfortable home I share with my husband, and a sweet and loving dog to give us comfort.

Most of all, I still have the support of my friends and family. Even though we can’t hug or be physically close, we can have phone conversations and facetime with electronic apps like Google Duo and Zoom. I am especially grateful that my meditation group meets once a week on Zoom.

Yes, times are changing. We still don’t know what the future holds, but we can reach out to others and find comfort in the little things in life. I reached out to my friends and asked them to contribute to this blog. Everyone I asked was happy to be a part of this new adventure. Learning new things is a challenge, but what better way to spend your time inside. I encourage you all to take up some creative project: painting, music, writing, gardening or finally making photo albums with all those old baby pictures. Yes, I dug out all those old the boxes of photos, but they are still stacked up in the dining room. Someday I will get to it. Perhaps now is a good time.