As we continue into another week (month) of self-isolation I am focusing on controlling what I can control. It is very easy to get caught up in feelings of frustration, anger, fear of the virus, the uncertainty, the state of small businesses. As these feelings start to surface, I am stopping myself. I can’t control what the government is mandating, what new rules are in place this week or how other people are reacting. I think it’s this last one that I struggle with the most. When people are scared they react, often in negative ways. This has been very upsetting to me, but I decided to start focusing on what I can control. 

I can control how often I workout, I can control what I am eating (although sometimes this one feels a little out of control!), I can control how I spend my time, I can control getting enough sleep and I can control how I react to other people’s comments and actions. To emphasize that – I can’t control the comments and actions of others but I CAN control how I respond to them.

A good friend of mine regularly says “Love is always the answer”. Rather than starting an argument, or giving in to the negativity – I choose love. I change the subject, I choose to talk about something positive, I remind myself that their comments are made out of fear. What we need now, more than ever is to support and love one another. We don’t need to shame people for their decisions, we need to focus on controlling our own life. Eating good foods, exercising regularly, getting outside for walks, doing things that are good for our mental health. For me that means doing puzzles, reading and talking to friends and family. I maintain my daily routine as much as I can. I still get up at 5am to do morning time. I don’t need to get up that early right now but I know when I do this my day goes much better than when I don’t. 

We purchased a new house back in February and listed our current house the day that non-essential businesses were forced to close. How’s that for timing! I can’t control that the real estate market came to a screeching halt. I could have gotten upset about it, I could have been very angry but I chose to pray on it and put things in place with the expectation that it wouldn’t sell as quickly as I had anticipated. Getting angry isn’t going to change anything and it’s certainly not going to make the house sell any faster. So I chose to control what I could control and create an alternate plan.

When we first started self-isolation, a friend sent me this list of Daily Quarantine Questions. I have been doing this every morning and I it holds me accountable to move my body everyday, check in with people, let go of unrealistic expectation and get through this period of time in the best way that I can.