Healing from the Pandemic: Finding the Silver Lining

I’ve been doing a lot of work lately to focus on healing from the pandemic. I know it’s not over yet, but y’all know I like to get a head start on things. And moving ahead and making plans for the future is part of what helps me feel better in life. I know that about myself.

But I’m being careful not to move ahead too quickly. I recently heard a quote from Dr. Elizabeth Sylvester about how if we aren’t intentional about metabolizing our feelings, they can metastasize. A pattern I learned in my family growing up is to not feel my feelings. I learned that the faster I could pick up my chin and face forward, the better.

On the one hand, I am so grateful to be a person who doesn’t wallow too long! I appreciate the optimism, resilience, and proactivity I learned from my family. But I want to round out those strengths by building more skills in the area of noticing, naming, reflecting on, and then releasing my emotions. In the Sow Connected podcast episode coming out tomorrow, I joked with Katherine about trying to get good at “moseying up and then cozying up to my emotions.”

So I’ve been intentionally listening to podcasts about how to process the collective trauma of the pandemic. I’ve been doing some reflection in my journal. I’ve been talking about these issues in leadership coaching and therapy. And I’ve been trying to actively heal my nervous system through reiki.

On one of the podcasts I listened to, I heard this story:

Taoist Story

There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically. “May be,” the farmer replied. 

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed. “May be,” replied the old man. The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. “May be,” answered the farmer. 

The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. “May be,” said the farmer.

 I love this story so much! I personally don’t believe everything happens for a reason, but one of my life rules is that every bad thing eventually leads to good things.

Given how bad COVID has been in many ways, I pushed myself to reflect on this question: What have been the silver linings of COVID?

When I asked myself this question, I realized that—for us—the most significant silver lining of COVID was being forced to cancel our Family Gap Year, hitting a new low with behavior issues in our family, starting parenting coaching, and then transforming our relationship with our son (and therefore transforming our family life and therefore transforming my entire life!).

So, THANK YOU, COVID! How crazy is that to say?!?

What has your most significant silver lining been? I would love to hear from you!