What will You Do About It?
Over the last year our souls (mind, will and emotions) have witnessed so much that is different, opposing, preposterous and eccentric in comparison to what was known or experienced before. Nevertheless, we have learned to live in a world where quarantines and mask are required and where embracing our loved ones is taboo.
In my personal experience I have transitioned from working outside of my home to working from home. I have traded high heeled boots and “dress shoes” for house shoes and now because of gaining the Covid-19/29 (yes statistics say that the average person has gained 29lbs over the last year) and needing to lose weight, I have embraced my gym shoes! I have traded acrylic nails for natural nails. I stopped frequenting grocery stores and learned that food can be delivered to me in a 2–4-hour time frame from placing the order. Additionally, I have learned that I am a fairly good cook and that eating at home helps me to have more control over my health and wellbeing. I have decided that while I enjoy going out, staying in is important for well-being and mental clarity. I have become an avid bird watcher and enjoy a little quiet time.
Am I different that I was in March 2020? Are you? The answer is an astounding “Yes!”. The external is evident and easily recognizable, but how much has your soul been affected?
Beyond the new rules and restrictions set up that are visible, and tangible are the traumas that come with watching a chart live steamed ticking up moment by moment recording the deaths of your fellow citizens of your cities, states, and nation. Let alone the trauma of losing family members without the ability to gather and grieve in ways that we have done so in the past. We have also lost the traditional means of celebrating graduations, weddings, birthdays, and anniversaries.
These realties are hard to handle and are further compounded by loss of job and for some work overload. And yet still more trauma from police brutality, racial inequity, a topsy-turvy election cycle, rioting and marching, civil unrest and mass shootings occurring increasingly often, our souls have recorded a lot.
Most of us keep moving and trying to find a way to look ahead, things to look forward to, but have you set down to think about how your soul has been affected?
Is your desire to get in shape your yearly resolution or are you now fueled by the fear of succumbing to Covid-19? Have the restrictions created loneliness? Has the lack of touch caused you to retreat? Do you no longer have the will to keep moving? Have you subconsciously stopped caring, loving, and living? Do you have the skills to cope with what you have been through? Are you grieving the loss of what was? Is your soul disquieted within you? Have you taken the time to address these questions? If not, take a moment to answer them. It is important to gage where you are in order to move forward.
I am not a therapist; therefore, this is not meant to be a counseling session; however, I am an empowerer and what I want to offer you is hope!
Yes, you have come through a time of great change and transition! Recognize it. Understand that it has been recorded in your mind, will and emotions, but you choose how you deal with what you have been through! Just as transition was thrust on you without invitation you have the right to choose how you process the aftermath!
You do not have to sit in the doom and gloom of it all. Hope is available! It is always on the table.
The psalmist wrote in Psalm 42:5 “Why am I so overwrought, why am I so disturbed? Why can’t I just hope in God?” Know that hoping in God is a suitable choice, it is always an option!
If you were around during the years that I was a teenager, you remember cassette tapes. Cassette tapes recorded voice and music on an analog magnetic tape. They were light weight and gave the user the ability to carry them easily to their car, home, or wherever you were listening. Sometimes the tape would get tangled up and unwound. But if the tape was not broken it was an easy task to take a pen/pencil and roll it back into the cassette. Although there was a trauma there was an easy fix to get you back in the business of listening.
But soon there arose on the scene a new player that changed everything called a Compact Disc. Now all of the favorite music that was contained on the cassette tape became irrelevant because cars and other devices switched over and no longer provided the ability to play the tape. This meant that our knowledge of repairing the cassette tape was now immaterial as well.
And so, it is now as the adjustments that we were used to making no longer work. We cannot use the fixes that we put in place to keep ourselves playing and presenting ourselves to the world!
Hope though in God and allow yourself to come to the knowledge and realization that what you knew as normal is not liking to knock on your door to visit. Some things have changed forever, but that does not mean for the worse. Accept that the change is here and embrace it. Refuse to allow the trauma to stop you. Keep pushing ahead and exploring the new possibilities and opportunities that have arisen. Take on new prospects and stay ahead of the curve. Use new times to produce and activate new innovations. Know that there is more originality, freshness and ingenuity looming in the horizon. Prepare yourself for what is to come and put on your new shoes to walk into your next day!
Empowerment Encounters 