WHAT DID COVID TEACH ME?

I'm not even sure if its really "over", but every once of me wants to scream "WE MADE IT!!"  With restrictions lifting across the province and the country, I am just so excited to get back to "normal".  Why the quotations?  Well, I know that what we once considered normal will never be again.  We have been so divided, so confused, so broken by the affects of this pandemic.  In so many ways, we are all victims.  My hope is that we have all learned, grown and evolved as best as we can.  Regardless of your beliefs or experience through these hard times, surely we are all taking something away and are forever changed.

I remember when the government mandated that we wear masks when we work.  I was so overwhelmed and distraught....how do I wear a mask through a 4 hour long BLAZING hot newborn session?  And at first I would leave with such a headache, I was convinced that I was doing my own body more harm by inhaling so much CO2 that what would happen if I ACTUALLY contracted the virus.  BUT it wasn't about me.  My client sessions, safety and health is NOT about me.  And it never has been.  Fast forward months later, I honestly can't even IMAGINE shooting a newborn session without a mask.  How were we EVER so close to these fragile little beings with our faces so close to theirs and just breathing all our "stuff" all over them?  I mean, I'm sure not everyone feels the same but I personally can't imagine working close to a newborn maskless again.  I feel like this will be my new normal.  Working with adults?  I mean not a big deal, right?  Depending on their comfort level, their immunity etc.  But brand new babies?? NOPE!  Not ever again.

Facebook....you have become an ugly, dangerous place.  A place where opinion is all that matters, a place where unverified claims are made as truth.  A place where you can spin your "side" with any media outlet you choose.  The place that used to be where I went to keep in touch with friends and family.  To share a song that inspired me, or a meme that made me giggle is now the most ugly place I can imagine.  I mean don't get me wrong, we are all entitled to our opinions, and we are all just trying to navigate this new world, but kindness has escaped this platform (and others on the internet).  We have all become keyboard warriors, determined to change the minds of everyone not thinking the same as us.  While I am grateful for my Facebook followers, and my business account, I have learned to avoid my personal account as much as possible if I want to live a peaceful existence....anyone else?  I mean, what happened to agree to disagree?  

And the upside of anger for me?  I have truly learned to let go.  When I avoided the places that made me lose my peace, I once again found a sense of balance.  I found empathy, acceptance and even joy.  I am learning to be more positive, to focus on myself and to follow my dreams.  Regardless of what this pandemic brings our way, we have to remember to keep on living.  Living to me means moving forward.  Always always moving ahead.  Whether you believed the pandemic was legitimate or not, you stopped living.  You froze in that insistence of being "right", you ran to the internet to prove your point with articles, videos and all the garbage memes that were out there.  YOU STOPPED LIVING!!  I refuse to live in a world with so much animosity.  This is not who we are as the human race.  Where is the joy, empathy and acceptance?  When someone is afraid, why do you mock them?  When someone is bold, why do you tell them they're selfish?  This all has to stop.  Remember a year and a half ago when we were all moving forward in life?  We were chasing dreams, moving onward, and just living life the best we could.  I hope this new world can go back to that.

Love your neighbour.  Accept each other.  Our experiences are all different in life.  We all live the best way we know how.  Chase those dreams, live in the moment, and choose peace over all else.  Being heard should not be more important than that.  Showing our children how to behave in the face of challenging times.  We need to all stick together, we are stronger that way.  

And that, my friends, is what I have learned living through a pandemic.

~ PEACE, LOVE, EMPATHY ~  Kurt Cobain