Not where we’re meant to be, but doing the things we’re meant to do.
Round about now – in a parallel universe – we would be making our way North through Norway, aiming for nowhere more specific than the midnight sun. We had a dream trip planned. Two weeks in a Danish summerhouse. Another 6 weeks in a beautiful Swedish house tucked away on Öland, nestled in a forest, a short walk from the harbour. We closed our small business to create the opportunity. We were poised to sell our beautiful converted chapel, deliberately pulling the rug out from underneath us; creating the capacity for new adventures.
For all the clear and present necessity caused by this global pandemic, we’re locked down in Wales, travelling nowhere in particular any time soon.
Not travelling anywhere anytime soon means we haven’t yet had a face-to-face squish with our beautiful granddaughter, Olivia, whose life has coincided precisely with lockdown. Mothers across the border in England and across the Irish Sea respectively both struggle with technology and so contact is stilted. We feel it deeply.
So far, so gloomy.
Not exactly the material of “Reasons to be Cheerful”, I hear you mutter quietly under your breath.
Lockdown, it is a nightmare situation for so many people. The isolation; the loneliness; loss of income; the drip, drip of negativity; the loss of control; the endlessness of it all. Oh, and don’t get me started on the conflicting and contrary messaging from folk who struggle to understand the basic tenets of leadership.
I totally get it; it would be impossible not to understand what folk are going through.
BUT, there is another side of this coin.
What if lockdown was OK … what if it was – in a whole bunch of ways – some part of the thing you’d set out to find. What if – and I completely understand that this is a personal perspective from my end of a kaleidoscopic telescope – it turns out to be just what we needed.
So, we are not in the places we were meant to be …
BUT, we are doing the things we planned to do.
Here are our reasons to be cheerful.
It turns out that we are cooking from scratch. We’re eating healthier meals; the handful of recipe books we brought along for the ride are being used.
We are reading more. Sitting, curled up on the settee, devouring words. We are picking up those books we always meant to read. We’re learning.
The solitude of our country setting is a blessing as we ramp up our exercise; cycling and running along a local canal path has created a sense of freedom in a world which would otherwise feel locked down and claustrophobic.
Words are flowing; an ambition to write more is being realised. We’re sharing those words with loved ones, as a steady stream of handwritten notes fly through the post and create gentle, slow conversations and connections.
So much of our ‘stuff’ has been given away or put into store; it means we’re living with less … and it feels simpler somehow.
And we are talking more. Planning. Sharing. Being together.
New habits sliding gently into view. Our new ‘normal’. It feels like the perfect time to focus on what we can do and not what we can’t do.
Reasons to be cheerful? From our end of the telescope, we can see plenty.
Barrie and JoJo
Barrie and JoJo used to run The High Street Delicatessen in Newtown. On the 31st of January this year they closed the deli to pursue their dreams of travelling, writing, chasing their curiosity and hosting gatherings. Find them at Feasts and Fables now, where they document their ‘gap year life’. Every Sunday they send out a fab newsletter - drop them a message to sign up. Barrie recently turned 55 and started a new project - Fifty Five Words. On the 1st of June he started a 55 day writing experiment. 55 words. Every day for 55 days. Follow the project here.