Day 18 - SkyLines from the French Lock-down: Inspiration

Salut nos amis!  

Another day arrives and we're still here - still connected and still keeping hope alive.  We're keeping busy and know that many others are doing the same.  Some of them are dead-tired as they work to keep the rest of us alive.  I think the only way to honor their sacrifice is to do just that.  Live - and live as well as we possibly can.  Every single day - especially right now. 

Like the sea, the virus batters us - like the building,
we are at risk but we are still standing.

 Day 18 -  We had our worst day yet for mortality here in France yesterday.  More than a thousand succumbed to the virus. Mille, trois cent, cinquante-cinq - that's one thousand, three hundred, fifty-five to be as precise as the heartless statistics that flash on our TV and computer screens. I cried and my partner swore. I know the whole planet feels the same. These are dark days, indeed.  And yet, I keep hope in my heart. Let's look to the future and make today count.  Let's come through this crisis and find we are: better, wiser, stronger, and alive.  


A rare gift has presented itself to some of us - time.  Time to be with ourselves with fewer distractions.  There is less opportunity to go shopping, many no longer have to commute or deal with what to wear.  If this gift has been given to you, then maybe it's a chance to improve or  change something you've always wanted to. Now I'm not talking about becoming a millionaire (good luck with that one), making the home over like a tv show (who has the money or skill???), or even me writing a best-seller (as if) and retiring to the south of France (Oh wait... well, anyway, you know what I mean.)

 I'm talking about finding a positive in this negative and working toward a goal that's going to make you happier you moved toward it when this is over.  Don't give me that "what if it's never over?" stuff - you've been watching to much news again.  I've warned you against that, it's

For now, shut the gate
stay at home if you can.

addictive and demoralizing.  A little of that goes a very long way. We humans have survived the plague not once, but several times.  We are better informed than they were about what is attacking us. We don't believe it's black cat magic or a vengeance being meted out only to the sinful.  We know it's a virus transmitted person to person.  That is why we are keeping apart, to slow down the transfer and try to be the ones who don't catch it.  So, we are at home.  And we have fewer distractions. (Except for those who have the kids with them!  I can imagine the challenge of that! You have my total respect.)

The trick is to figure out what it is you would like to improve and what you can actually do with the situation you find yourself in.  That's not easy and change is usually painful.  I do not imagine that the caterpillar upon awakening in the chrysalis to discover it is trapped inside the shell is thrilled with the prospect of figuring the way out of that wrapping. No doubt it feels cramped and longs to get out.  However, it is a rebirth and being born is a traumatic experience. Struggling out into the world to unfold those freshly formed wings, it has to wrench and tear it's way free.  But when those wings have unfolded and are dry, it flies!  What an amazing sensation it must be.  And that is what we can each do.  Work on building our wings, whatever form they take. This is meant as a metaphor - unless what you've always wanted to do is become a pilot or go hang-gliding. For those kinds of goal, you will have to stick with virtual wings for the time-being.  But you can begin, just the same.

Ridiculous? No, because the changes you make can start small, like grains of sand in the hourglass that one by one show the passing of time.  Figure out what it is - be it simply to get more sleep. have your house arranged so it pleases you more, learn how to fold fitted sheets, not blow up at the aforementioned kids when they are going as stir-crazy as everyone, locate the tools in your work space without a search, grow herbs on the kitchen windowsill, find the best way to keep yourself fit, learn a language, or how to make musical instruments from kitchen utensils, or well... go on brainstorm!  If you love classical music, it might be to find one new performance each day on YouTube that you've never heard.  Listen and revel in it.  There is always something you haven't yet achieved that is within reach.

I have a friend who is working on minimizing her possessions.  She frankly admits that she will never truly be a minimalist but is happy just to be removing clutter from her life.  Do her shelves gleam with emptiness and her kitchen have a long open work surface to envy?  No.  Does she actually put one thing a day in a box to give or throw away?  No, because life happens and she really enjoys living it.  But she has reduced a lot of the things that she has discovered were just hanging around because they had arrived in her life and stayed.  She told me once that her goal was to keep only things that were useful or pleased her.  There's a goal that is easy to work on.  I like order in my life but I constantly create clutter.  My goal this month is to reduce that clutter.  I choose one place (today it's the bedside table -- where the heck did all of that stuff in the drawer come from!?) and in the calm that descends just after lunch, I plan to clear it all out, go through it, and organize it so I feel better.

You may not realize it, but there are people who look to you for your example.  I have a friend

I open my laptop and it inspires me.

who lives alone but she touches lives around the globe with her Facebook posts.  She doesn't have a castle but she really is a queen in disguise.  She definitely inspires me and many others.  And sometimes you DO know you are guide to others. (like those aforementioned kids...)  So make it memorable for them!

I had the most amazing role models growing up.  My dad was a military officer.  He is organized, efficient, logical, and hard working.  He gave me the example of what focus, willpower, reflection, and stick-to-it-ness could achieve.  The self-discipline that my friends marvel at obviously came from his example.  I am so proud of him and we chat every day thanks to the miracle of the internet.

 My mom was and remains an inspiration to me. She danced, she sang, she sewed.  She wise-cracked like a sailor and wore fashion like Coco Chanel meets Iris Apfel. She never gave a fig what anyone thought about that - she had a zest for life that was bigger than the Empire State building.  Her students benefited from that zeal and enthusiasm.  When I lived in my hometown, young people and adults often told me, "Your mother was the best teacher I ever had!"

That didn't surprised me.  Her ability to learn, remember, and explain things was only outdone by her energy. She created interesting things from whatever was at hand and found ways to squeeze time to do that from any free moment.   If she was where we are now, she would be producing masks from whatever was at hand and they would be amazing.  

Her special skill was crafting.  Her eyes would see possibilities in the most mundane objects.  Nothing that existed couldn't be repurposed into art or a useful tool.  Even bleach bottles became props for skits or Christmas decorations that are adorable.  She used every second of every day to do the things she wanted.  Her hands were always gesturing, clapping, knitting, sewing, writing, designing, fixing a drink, or holding my dad's hand as they set off on another adventure.

If I was lost for an idea as a kid, or later in my classroom or much later in my writing, she

When I told Mom I wanted to be a
Photo-blogger, she said, "You can do that!"

would turn it over in her head and say whatever popped up. She never stopped with just one idea, thoughts would pour forth like a river in flood.  The proposals might be silly, banal, bonkers, childish, risque, and were often way over the top.  Hollywood had nothing on her imagination.  And from her stream of catapulted ideas would come a solution.  Often quite brilliant.   As a disclaimer, just so you will see that she was also very human - she never suffered fools and she couldn't cook worth a dime.  I miss her but I also hear her spirit that lives on within me saying, "Go on.  Do it! Life is short!" 

So back to you in the here and now.  Take that deep breath.  Reset the clock to zero.  Everything that didn't work before doesn't count.  That was then and you are NOW.  Clear out the negative thoughts and clutter.  Think of one thing you would like to achieve that will make you happier in the long run.  Is it something possible?  If it's not (like becoming a millionaire) then put that on your list for later and do like my mom and just keep letting the ideas flow.  Now open your eyes and make a list.  Don't exclude the zany.  It may not be as nutty as it sounds.  Look for one thing that makes you think, "Yes - this would please me and I can start today."

Perhaps, a bit like me, it's the cleaning out of the junk drawer, or rearranging the tool shelf to be more accessible.  It could be having a relaxing cup of tea all to yourself, scrolling through best memories and dreaming about what you'll do when we are finally free to roam again. (Then write it down.  It's good to keep track of our dreams.) Maybe you need to dance like no one is looking and let go of the stress.  Maybe a fitness dance sounds good - they are all over YouTube - like this Pumped Up 15 minute vid?    Or it could be finding a science project those cabin-fevered kids will like enough to clean up the kitchen afterwards... (I mean how amazing would that be? Right.  But do search for them - this site had some fun ideas and some very messy ones! Classic Science Experiments for the Home,  on Pinterest: Cool Projects of All Kinds)   Is it cooking something edible out of the storehouse of edibles in the stockpile?

How about getting in touch with someone every day and letting them know you are thinking of them?  That reminds me - I have some people I should write emails as they don't do this social media thing...  How about organizing the photos, or recipes, or books.  Is it time to recycle, reuse, or reduce the things that have been set aside and are just there because they are there? Or maybe you should just give yourself ten minutes of calm each day and pamper yourself a little bit.  (When??? I know - that's a toughie!  I've been waking up two hours earlier this week just to write when the others are sleeping, but I'm a definite late sleeper so that's not so early.)

Try your best to turn off the noise both in the room and in your mind. We live in a world that bombards us.  But right now, there is less traffic in the streets, fewer airplanes in the sky.  Use that.  Clear your thoughts and breathe deeply for a few minutes.   It doesn't have to be meditation or any set plan that does it for you, although if it appeals, now is the moment to give it a go.  Before I sleep at night, I put down the book I've been reading for a few minutes and reflect on whether I'm satisfied with my day.  Then I do as my French partner, Y, does and I just "Bulle." Literally this is the word bubble.  When he says it, it means to let your mind drift on without real thought.  To be like a bubble on the breeze.  At first I would say, and what are you thinking about?  And he would answer, "Je bulle, je ne pense à rien." (I'm thinking of nothing.)  Seriously, this is a very good time to not think to hard on the news and really work on a bit of thinking of nothing.  

You got this.  You can change yourself and actually, you are the only one who has that super-power.  Tell yourself or write it down.  And then act.  Don't freak out if you don't do it consistently.  This is not a test, this  is the real deal.  Little changes can lead to long term joy.  I had to push myself for years to write.  It seemed like hard work.  So I kept a diary next to the manuscripts in which I recorded the number of words I'd written each day or whether I had spent time editing.  It was my Jiminy Cricket to make me see if I'd done what I meant to

do or if I was slacking off.  I hated myself on the days when there was nothing written in the diary.  And it pushed me.  And the more I wrote the easier it got.

Now, there isn't a day when I don't write something.  Even when I'm on "vacation"  my notebook is with me and I have a fold-up keyboard for my phone app.  I love to write and that

technique was my way of making a change.  It took time - and right now we have the time to

I love writing in outdoor cafes.

make a new start.  You can do it too.  And your way will be unique to you.  It's not like a "resolution" because they rarely work.  You can't fail at this.  Anything you do will be good.  (Yeah, I know - you are going to choose to keep on reading something on the internet every day.  That's not a bad goal.  If it makes you happy - cool.  If not - then change to something that will!  Hang in there, nos amis.  And know that I'm cheering for you when you win and saying, "It's all cool, you'll get there," and besides, no matter where you think you should be, you are going to end up where you need to be.  It really is okay.

You know, that saying "Don't sweat the small stuff - It's all small stuff?"  Sure when it's stuff outside your control forget it.  But when it comes to you making changes, don't believe it. Because each snowflake only seems insignificant until that last one touches down to start the avalanche.  Bring it on - an avalanche of positive endeavor.  It will do you good. So start something - it's time for a reset.  Everything that came before today was prologue.

Let's get inspired together. Hand in hand we step into the future every minute of every day. Use this enforced confinement as a vehicle instead of as a cage. In the end, it is every thought that makes us

who we are, so start with the thought.  Then do what you can, plan what you wish for, and it will make a difference, no matter how small, toward making that a reality. And remember - it is you who inspires me!  


A demain, mes amis  (Until tomorrow, my friends)  Link to Day 19