
21 Sep Make Lemonade
The phrase, “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade,” is about being optimistic and positive when things aren’t in your favor. The lemons, sour by nature, are a metaphor for the difficult times in life. But when things aren’t going your way, don’t despair — make lemonade! Add a little sugar!
2020 has presented some really difficult times. This pandemic is like nothing we’ve experienced before. The first Canadian case of the novel coronavirus was reported by Health Canada on Jan. 25, 2020. Slowly, we all felt the effects of the pandemic as the country shut down. We are now mid-September and some days it feels like there is no end in sight.
I find myself often thinking about all the things I am missing from my ‘pre-Covid’ life and a feeling of despair slowly creeps in. I’m constantly asking myself, ‘when will this end?’, ‘when are they going to fix this?’.
Luckily, for me I have the good fortune of being friends with an accomplished Facilitator, Presenter and published author, Rebecca Sutherns PhD CPF. Rebecca shares a weekly e-mail newsletter and her most recent publication, really grabbed my attention and helped me re-align my thinking.
This is the paragraph that spoke to me…
“It can be tempting, in COVID times, to highlight what you wish you were doing or would have been doing under different circumstances. Those losses are worth grieving, but in your work with your teams, I’d suggest resisting that temptation. Highlighting what we’d otherwise be doing brings everyone down a notch emotionally. It reminds us of what we’ve lost. Plus, it is actually quite irrelevant. It adds nothing to the current experience, draws attention away from being fully present and undermines our ability to performing at our best in that present moment”.
Thank you for letting me share your words, Rebecca and a huge Congratulations on your latest publication, “The Little Book Of Life Skills”, [along with Rachael Ray, Dr. Oz and Arianna Huggington]. You’re kind of a big deal!
To add to this, I encourage you to surround yourself with positive, forward thinking friends. Ignoring feelings doesn’t help them go away so having the right people to talk to can make a big difference.
And of course, the number one best thing we can do for coping is exercise. Any exercise, even a simple walk, helps. It releases endorphins, gets some of the adrenaline out when the frustration builds. Just getting out and moving can be really, helpful.