Here we are. March will be the anniversary of entering into a world wide pandemic because of Covid-19. We also have passed half a million people who have passed because of it. Our lives have changed. It wasn't till recently our own family was touched by a death because of Covid. Losing a relative to Covid, outside of all the reports, true and false. Outside of all the reactions people have to it from total hopelessness, to continuing their lives as if nothing is happening. Outside of not seeing people like we use to. Outside of going barely anywhere and having mild panic attacks because of the various side effects reported. Outside of your life not being as it was, you don't feel it truly till it happens to you. That death, of someone you know, or knew who has passed because of something unseen by the human eye.

We tend to act like it doesn't exist until we see it. We tend to act like if I just do the simple things, wash my hands, wear a mask, don't touch my face, we will be safe. But then you have holidays come around and people want to get together. People want to celebrate their birthdays with people they know and love. People want to see their loved ones even more so now that they are being told they can't. We want to hug our friends and family. We want the normal comforts of life we had before but it was those normal comforts that also got us where we are. 

We live in one of the most wealthiest countries that has the ability to help its' people, but because we are so divided and then one thing, will really not the one thing we don't see, but many, keeps us still facing a pandemic until the reality of it sets in so deeply that we look at the past and say that wasn't working, but new leadership and new ideas. Vaccines coming out, government looking to be effective instead of distorted.  Working together and realizing we will not make it if we are so divided, but need to come together, will get us through.

There are many who want life to get back to the old normal. That normal wasn't working. If it was, we wouldn't be where we are now. We have to get use to the new normal. What that means is that changes have to be made and many of those changes that have happened already will probably stay as the new normal. People will probably continue to work from home. If it working better than it was before, people will change the way they do things to fit was works better for them now. I know several people who have thrived during covid instead of suffered. If your doing better, why would you go back to the old?  Life brings us change and we shouldn't be afraid of it. If we become resistant to it, we will fail. If we learn to adapt, we will thrive. The Earth made this virus to teach us a lesson. Hopefully, whatever that lesson is and what it shows us, we will learn it. 

I myself have become more reflective on purpose. I have learned a lot about myself and what I am and not capable of doing or handling. I also have learned very clearly what and who I want in my life. I have also learned a lesson so clearly that I only have shared it with a few people because only those people will understand.  I truly hope that in the end, everyone learns what is important and who.  Everyone has the right to live their lives the way they want. Choice and the right to choose, right or wrong, it is still everyone's choice to make.  People will make a lot of choices and not realize that those choices do effect other people and in the end that choice could cause the end of someone else's life. Which leads me back to the start of this article. We live our lives in circles and here we are a year later, another circle but hopefully this circle, or cycle, will be different and better for all of us. Life and death is a circle we are all locked into, but we should never fear that circle, we should embrace it and be aware of our actions and try much harder to be better people that the world needs us to be.

Be safe, be well, wash your hands, don't touch your face and wear a mask.

Blessings,

Steve