Housing Hope at a Time Like This

I ask for paper so that I can write. My fingers have been restless at the sight of possible creation. My brainwaves giggle as they anticipate what is to come, and the world seems a little brighter.

I enjoy the sound of the keys tip tapping beneath my fingers. They dance to the rhythm of my mind as I place each word together. Piece by piece I build the jigsaw puzzle and wait to make sense of the bigger picture.

I try not to let the outside world affect me anymore.

It’s taken a moment to pause and a deep breath in, to realise that none of that really matters. We are mere mortal beings who can only hope to make a little difference during our short while on this earth. Reassessing what I want from life I come to a conclusion of sorts that tells me I needn’t worry about it all that much.

As the days go on, and the nights continue to come around, I see that life really does go on no matter what. I have found so much hope in the fact that we are able to adapt, and to change, and that nothing has to remain the same. With a big nudge and a little effort (accompanied by a large dash of motivation), change can happen.

Each time I walk past someone these days, I pass a smile their way. I smile because we are all connected; I smile because, we are all in this together; I smile because, I care. Each life lost everyday is a life one too many. But a fact I have also had to face is that we will all die at some point in this life. Our time will come to an end. I feel grateful then, that I still have been blessed with this time, and feel a duty to enjoy every bit of it.

I step out into the fresh air and let my senses thrive. I feel my feet in my sandals on the gravel. I taste the remnants of my toothpaste on my tongue. I smell the greenery around and see the colours light up. What a luxury to be alive.

How I have taken this so much for granted! My existence became a never-ending cycle of disappointment. Insignificant details became a cause of massive upset, and I fell down the dark hole of ‘not enough.’ I’m not enough, my life isn’t enough, I don’t have enough of *insert material thing here*. I look at influencers on social media and have marvelled for so long at their seemingly wonderful life, whilst over-looking the fact that we both have a life and what more can I ask for than for that?

Being in a privileged position of having a job and having a roof over my head and food to keep me healthy is a tremendous luxury. Before, in the noise of a capitalist society, it was too easy to fall into the trap of needing more. When it resumes, I must hold onto these thoughts and feelings, and remember.

Kindness and compassion are the greatest currency. With them in abundance, I gift those I can, all I can. I house a need to stretch out, and to give — a new purpose, a new direction, and a new way of being.

Hope has been my gift these past few months. I believe, when this is all over, we will be all the better for it. Many will have lost relatives and loved ones and that grief will sit over us for a while. But the sun will rise and set as it always does, and we will find beauty in the everyday again, together.

To you, reading this now, know that there is hope; know that I am thinking of you, as are many; know that everything is going to be okay because no matter what, we have each other, and that means kindness and compassion exists. Love and grace are immune to any virus.

Go and stand or sit outside today; and listen, and feel. Meditate on the surroundings we too often take for granted, and remind yourself that there is so much more to this than we know. We are but a comma, in the thesis of eternity. That doesn’t make you insignificant — you are a vital part of it, and so recorded in permanent ink — but you are one of many millions. All contributing to a larger story, we play our parts, and wait.