Being Optimistic in Difficult Times

Today, we sit in a furnished rented apartment in Sausalito. Our plans had been for Jean to retire from his work at the hospital at the end of April and get us settled into our “forever home” in Sauve, France. Then, the Coronavirus 19 hit. The shock to our system, way of life, daily habits, mental fortitude, physical health, and financial health are all affected. Priorities have now shifted to being safe and healthy. Nothing else matters more. We are sheltering at home with our college aged daughter, working and studying in the day, taking a walk with masks - swerving across the street to avoid people and bingeing on Netflixs and amazon prime, and cooking and washing dishes constantly.  As someone said, “It feels like I have 365 dinners in the last week.”

Our emotions are raw, tensions are high and people are trying to find joy in small things. And, we are all bored! Bored of staring at the small walls in our apartment, barely able to cook on the tiny stove, sharing 1 tiny bathroom and sitting in someone elses home. We want to be back in France. We want to be in our home.

Right now, it is about needs, however, not wants. This requires us to be emotionally resilient and lower our expectations on daily life and scheduled plans - not easy to do for any of us as we have worked so hard to make this transition over the past year.  As days move on one at a time, we compartmentalize our emotions so we can focus on work. At other times, we schedule our “breakdowns” and talk about how we are feeling which span all the levels of grief; anger, denial, bargaining, acceptance, hope.  Hope to me, is the key to getting up everyday as we only hear bad news around the world. Being an optimistic person, this time has been very trying for me as optimism has been overcome by the virus. However,  I recently read “Optimism is not being stupid and ignoring the facts, but about hope.” I love that, it is hope we need to cling to right now.

Hope a cure will be found

Hope the virus will disappear and not harm people anymore

Hope our economy can bounce back

Hope the borders open soon

Hope we can fly to France

Hope we can get home soon.

It is hope I live with everyday