It’s time to find out if I was able to be Happy every day, weeks 10 – 13.
I am guessing that I have to make some mention of the Corona virus. How could we even look at the month of March without mentioning it in some way.
I have joked before about January being a very long month. I stand by that, well at least until March 2020 arrived. Never before have any of us experienced a month of such uncertainty and chaos as a nation, world in fact.
And hasn’t it made for a ridiculously long feeling month. With so much happening, things changing on a daily basis, we have been running the treadmill of March for what undoubtedly feels like 3 months.
The question is though, in the midst of a Worldwide pandemic, Was I happy every day?
Positive vibes
Because I like to remain on the optimistic side as often as possible, it is this optimism that has kept me going. I can’t pretend as a Key worker that the unknown has been a difficult ride.
I’m unable to sit here and tell you that I haven’t had at least a week of crying each time I woke for a few hours. A few hours of my day, where I had woken and realised this was not some kinda sick joke. Cried for the lack of stability, cried for our country and cried because I could see how this was going to pan out and it wasn’t looking great. I cried for my Mum, because I needed to call her and for her to tell me it would be OK.
Those tears were needed. I needed to allow myself to feel it to be able to process it. How could any of us really grasp any of this? It is completely unlike anything most of us have ever experienced before, or ever will.
But my positive pants were needed. I popped them on and here we are. Looking at the reasons to be grateful, looking at reasons to smile and be happy. I knew, for me, it would be what got me through.
Week 10
Brilliant Faces Love Ace camera
The first weekend of March bought the sunshine with it, and oh didn’t we need some sun in our lives! After what felt like weeks of heavy rain, and being confined to the house (Oh if only we knew what was coming!) being outside was perfection.
We headed out to Draycote waters, it is one of my favourite days out. Even if we did arrive midway through a 10K run! We all enjoyed watching the sailing club make the most of the wind, even if they did keep capsizing.
Plus my new iphone camera is absolutely rocking my world in terms of photo quality. I have taken more pictures since I got it than I have done in the last 6 months!
Week 11
The following weekend also offered some much needed light relief after the uncertainty began.
It was a beautiful weekend, full of family time. We coloured in together, baked and made pizza’s. Even the boy ate Pizza, minus the cheese but one step at a time!
Week 12
Week 12 bought with it news of school closures. It was a week of chaos and tears, the news that we could potentially be out of school for months, was a huge shock for me. I honestly believed it would be a few weeks off and we’d be back to normal. How wrong was I??
Week 12 also meant Mother’s day was coming. With the girls in self isolation and the boy staying with his (not in a risk group) Granddad, it meant that I could largely ignore the day.
I was happy though to find this lovely picture of my Mum that I had not seen before. It completely sums up her fun loving nature. She was always quick to get involved, if it was good enough for us, it was good enough for her.
The second year was easier in some ways but with all this going on, I flit between wishing she was here to make sense of this all and almost feeling grateful that I don’t have to worry due to her being high risk.
As terrible as this may sound, I think the fact that a lot of us were not able to celebrate with our parents this year, meant I was less aware of the day itself.
Week 13
Since I started my blog, I can’t sit here and pretend that working from home didn’t have a certain appeal to me. In reality though, I love my job!
When I think back to a week ago, never did I really believe I’d have to work from home. Yet here we are on our first day in our new dining office.
The 3 of us working at the table is going well so far. Although poor F is, in my opinion being set far too much homework. For a child that has barely had a chance to find his feet in high school let alone learn to home school.
He is doing well in general, but oh the overwhelm is causing a few issues for us both.
Rob and I are loving it, tea and coffee on tap and a cuddle whenever I need one!
We are all making an effort to use our exercise time each day, bike rides, walks and a run for Rob. I am even waking up at normal time to workout, who am I??
A woman desperate to leave lockdown smaller than I went in to it!
Happy every day?
Now more than ever, it is so important that we take some time to be happy and grateful. I have seen an overwhelming amount of kindness this month. This in itself is a wonderful reason to be happy.
I am sending so much love to you all, stay safe and STAY AT HOME!
Times are so tough and frightening at the moment. I’ve been very emotional too. Love that you put your positive pants on and your words are very motivating! I’m also working from home. All very strange and it has its challenges!!! Keep safe and smiling. Xxx
Lovely words, as always Claire. Feeling like i need some of you optimism as I’m missing my normality. Trying to be happy everyday though. Love and miss you beautiful lady xxx
Sounds amazing.
I’m trying to get the most out of working from home and having to home school the kids. We’re on week three of homeschooling so far. And yeah, my oldest (13) is getting way to much home work and is expected to navigate way to many weird websites to find said home work, if you ask me.
But yes, keeping positive is so important, and yes, lets end this smaller than we started #coronafit
Love <3
This is really lovely. It’s great how you can find the positivity in all situations. Things right now are tough, but I guess we just have to look on the brighter side of things. Thanks for sharing.
I always feel better when I put a smile on my face, even if just for a moment! This is such a tough and weird time, but we should still all try and be as positive as we can! Thanks for sharing x
I agree, it is such an odd time x x
I so get trying to stay positive. Yet I hope, and it looks like you aren’t resisting the painful parts. Yeah painful parts of life are pretty sucky but hey do make up half of the human experience.
When I saw your title I was curious because so many people want to be happy everyday and that is so unrealistic. You don’t want to be happy when a close friend or relative passes away. That would a) be a bit weird and b) denies yourself the opportunity to experience the beauty of grief and the full expression of losing somebody you love. Life is 50% pleasure and 50% pain. The key is how you approach the event that is causing the negative emotion. If you resist it and fight against that emotion that makes you feel bad then that is where suffering comes from.
If you take the time to experience And examine with open curiosity, any emotion and name that emotion and let it live it’s short life you find on the other side that you are stronger and eager face each day a little bit more sure of your abilities.
When you do have a moment of sadness or anxiety or any emotion pay attention to the thought that creates it and see what other thoughts you can have in its place that can change how you see the event that causes that thought. You will soon be able to embrace any emotion you have and accept when you feel down. Then quickly change the thought to a more positive nature.
You got this and keep it up.
Thank you so much for reading and replying. I agree life is very 50/50 but even in my darkest days there were moments that bought me joy. I think without those moments, I would never have survived it x
I love how optimistic this is. I am trying to be exactly the same – like it’s such a crappy situation but I’m trying to focus on the fact I like being at home, ok I can’t go out for dinner but I love to cook so I’m trying new things. We will get through the end side of this soon! ♥️
What a great post, my husband is the one with the positive pants in our household and always says try to find at least one thing a day to smile about and it does work
I agree that now more than ever we need to be optimistic and positive and grateful for the things we have and that we enjoy. These are uncertain times.
Losing a parent is never easy, no matter what age you are. I’ve never forgotten a quote I heard in the 1990s: “You don’t get over them. You just get used to missing them.”
It really is the most difficult thing I think anyone has to go through x
March was a month that has turned many of our lives upside down. I have had to cancel lots of pre arranged plans for the next few months, things we have been planning for months, but I am grateful my family and I are safe and well.
I can’t imagine what it is like being out there as a keyworker, as a full time blogger I’m always working from home and even I’m finding it a weird place so for those more involved I just can’t.. You are right though we have to try and stay positive.
I love that you have a positive attitude towards this all, its definitely a time to be grateful for the things you have and I always remind myself that everyone worldwide will be experiencing it together.
My husband has the iphone 11 and the photo quality is amazing, even compared to my XS…….cannot wait to upgrade mine. March was a horrible month for us, I have changed jobs just to keep some money rolling in
It’s hard to stay happy with everything going on at the moment. Homeschooling is hard work for many of us not used to it. I’ve got 3 children and I’m juggling that with full-time work from home. It’s hardly a surprise I’m failing miserably. There has been a lot of kindness shown by others this month, let’s hope it continues.
You’re right, it’s so important for us to think of the positives and not spend all of our time worrying as there’s very little we can do about the situation. I bet April is going to feel even longer than March x
I love upbeat posts like this. Well done you for keeping it up. Let’s hope April goes quick too and is full of more positive vibes
I love your gratitude style blog post of you documenting your positivities. So glad you are all able and finding a way to work from home without getting in each other’s way. I work downstairs and with the kids, while my husband upstairs
Thank you 🙂 Happiness is so important and looking for the positives really helps x
Posts like this which are optimistic really cheer me up. It’s great that you have a new iphone camera. I think the quality of photos on the iPhone are very good
They are so good x
March was a strange month and quite scary. It turned many lives upside down. Thank you for this post. I love seeing positive things at such a difficult time like this.
We need so much of this positivity! I can not lie is difficult to be that happy but we have to try everyday, every hour! Cheers
We really do x x
Lovely words as always and its so great to hear your positivity and optimism too, something I definitely need to work on! March has been such a tricky month and we are all still adjusting the a new kind of normal. I am sure in years to come you will love having these posts to look back on and read.
What a lovely idea, checking in on your happiness factor 🙂 I think everybody should do this, especially now that we’re living such challenging times. Because even on evil times there are rays of light to be found in every day.
Thank you Teresa, I agree. There is happiness everywhere if we look for it x x
My favourite quote at the moment is this too shall pass, just thinking of when we can go out and see all of our family and friends again! It’s lovely reading someone else’s positives; this post was a great pick me up.
Becca x |
Thank you Becca, I can’t wait to hug everyone I know x x