Finding ways to remain calm and focused when chaos abounds is a challenge. I practice every day with varying degrees of success. What I have found is that the practice itself provides comfort. It is something to anchor me as I tread carefully in this uncertain world.
Taking time to reflect on the year helps me to see through the haze of current events and crises of the moment.
I am a planner by nature. Once the immediate shock of an unfolding disaster became clear, I needed to do some real-time planning and preparing. It was in this moment that I realized my plan was not as tight as it should be. As the coming days and weeks unfold, my community will be facing loss, grief, coming together and rebuilding. I hope that as we do this difficult work, we will all take steps to ensure we stay safe, care for each other and get ourselves as prepared as we can for the next challenge.
In my role as a mother, I have spent extra hours stocking the pantry, wiping down surfaces, planting a vegetable garden and filling up our medicine cabinet with all the nutritional and herbal remedies I know to help my family build our immune systems, combat stress, get good sleep and fight off illness should it strike. These activities help me maintain a small sense of control in a time of intense uncertainty. In my role as a financial planner, I find myself working with clients to do the same thing: focus on what you can control.
Our youngest is in the midst of a gap year before heading to college. I will admit that I was a bit nervous at first. It is hard to resist the urge to press on, keep the ball rolling, avoid idleness at all costs. But all that pressure can sometimes backfire and then it becomes so very obvious that taking a breath, taking a step back, finding some time to really contemplate the next move is what is called for.
