It’s coming up on that time of year… That one-year anniversary where we can all remember the last thing that we did in the public, or with the public, before everything changed from covid.

So, I am planning a covid party.  The extent of the “party” will of course be my husband and my mother.  I‘ll invite my cats, but they may or may not attend.

But yes, I’m planning a party to CELEBRATE the last year.

Why?

Because we made it.

Whatever happened, we survived. If you are reading this, you survived. This is a celebration of resilience. Of our strength. Of our courage. Get together with your loved ones and celebrate what you made it through.

Yes, we can go into this one-year anniversary and lament that things *should* be different than they were.

But they weren’t

They were exactly as they were.

So I’m going to take a moment to celebrate good that DID happen over the year. To invest some time to focus on the positive. Do something to make it feel celebratory – in our case, I think we’ll be opening a bottle of champagne. You pick something that feels right for your family – something you’d do to celebrate a milestone of accomplishment.  Because, why not?

We did it. We were resilient in the face of change and uncertainty. All the stress, all the unknowns, all the fears. Whatever happened or didn’t happen – we made it. If you’re reading this, you made it.

And it is good to spend time focusing on the positive. To make it a game. To make it a challenge. Sit with your loved ones and try to come up with everything that happened good over the last year. Every silver lining that you can possibly come up with. 

Simmer in that for a while…

Cherish it. Let it expand. That is the energy that feels good (and is also good for your health, btw). Not dwelling on the way that we WISH the way things were and resisting the way that things are.

In my case, I’ve started new hobbies. I’ve become quite an artist, when I never thought that I was an artist at all. And now I’m drowning in artwork. And I finally got chickens – check that one off my bucket list.  This is stuff I never would have done or discovered in a ‘normal’ world if it hadn’t been for covid completely wiping my social calendar. And you know what? It’s been a fun diversion. 

I’m not going into my one-year anniversary lamenting that ‘I can’t believe that all this is still true after a year’ or lamenting that this is still our reality. Rather, I’m accepting the fact that this IS still our reality. It is.  Plain and simple.  The only choice we have in the matter is how we react to it, and I’m going to celebrate my good that happened over the last year, because you know what? We lived. And that what’s were here for.

Celebrate life. Because there is always something to celebrate if we take the time to choose to focus on it. To choose to look for it. If we look for it, we will find it.

Yes, *even* in the last year. The paradox is, actually, *especially* in the last year. The harder the year is, the more important it is to take the time to and choose to find all the silver linings.  Honor your resilience. And I do mean honor. Because “honor” is in the *feeling*. It is not just saying the words and fluffing it off and going right back and dwelling on everything that isn’t the way you wish it was. Honor means spending a moment in awe. In admiration. Really step back and really look at everything you withstood, all that you weathered. All you got through. All the change you didn’t think you could handle …and look at that… You did.

And a whole new spring is right around the corner, just waiting for us. Yes, there is much around us to celebrate…