I am strong, wise and courageous. Happiness is my birth right.

I have that reminder set to pop up on my phone once a week. Some days I hit okay and don’t bother to read it; but this last month has caused me to pause. I now read my daily intentions with intention. I repeat them and breathe them in.

This is an odd and uncertain time, and I think we are all a little stunned it’s taken so long. We are Americans after all; and we live to tell you how we stopped and over came whatever is thrown our way.

Can I tell you a secret? I am loving the slow pace. Our little family eats dinner together regularly, but now we are better at game night and checking in with each other and how we are all doing mentally. My kid is at home working on the home school part of it and I think that’s a little overwhelming because her day dream sensor is off. She doesn’t realize that just because she can’t focus at home doesn’t mean she spent the whole day focusing at school. So teaching her to give her some self breaks and look outside and GO outside is also incorporated into our home life. However, she did pick up the hobby of sewing. That sewing machine my mom got me 7 years ago is finally getting put to use.

She is also getting some much needed driving lessons.

We have our deep dish pizza to build and that has made us feel we are contributing to our community in some small way.
I could be cleaning out the garage, of course, and organizing. And maybe I will get to that because it has made me realize I don’t need or use half of the things I own. That takes motivation to go through every box and some days my need to nap interferes with it all.

There is so much stress and worry right now. I have turned off the news and stopped looking at all the information because I think I have enough right now. I wash my hands more than I have in my whole life and I am also very acutely aware how much I touch my face.

I have a pile of books I have put off reading that I am now digging through. I have shows that I can watch at my own pace.

BUT I also have chores. No I don’t. I just get the call of we are checking cows. My dad has entrusted my sister and I with the evening check. I think mostly because, let’s face it, cows tend to behave themselves from the hours of 4 pm-7 pm. It’s the night shift where things tend to go side ways. So my sister and I load up in the side by side (which we have recently learned to check the gas gauge. Is one dash enough to get use to the back end of the calving pasture and back? Yes. It went up to two dashes on a down hill slide, so who really knows. We live life on the edge.) We bounce around and interrupt the cows trek up the path, make our three year old heifers nervous, and we laugh at all the calves that are showing off their new pair of legs. We also get the sage advice of a 7 year old which mostly consists of “I told you.”

While we all get into our new routine and keep washing our hands,cleaning every surface; remember to take the time to slow your mind from wondering into the unknown and to make your to do list.

I am still working on mine.

Stay safe out there.