A lot of us have been musing aloud about how ourselves and our world will look and feel when we emerge from Covid Lockdown. I have never forgotten my cousin’s story. She had been living in New York when 9/11 occurred. When it came time for her to move to be closer to family in Europe a year later, I asked if it felt good to get away from the trauma and those memories. She replied, with an emphatic ‘No!’. It was actually much harder to leave, she explained, because everyone had bonded so much after that it felt like she was leaving a deeply connected tribe.
So here we all are, 19 years later, experiencing a similar bonding. We are bonding through saving lives, in this strange way we are bonding in isolation. I firmly believe we can get through this experience as stronger and better people (not that you aren’t perfect inside already!)
I cannot convey how grateful I am so have so many of you along on our live stream journey. It is fantastic to see your faces on our online classes and myself and our teachers, really feel your support reaching across the bandwidth at this time. If you had told me a month ago it was possible to run a business with no students in it I would have thought it crazy. But so many of the usual rules of life have been cast aside (beach picnic anyone??) and this is another of them. To feel your energy coming down the internet waves is amazing. Seeing you come online before class is as for me exciting as a child opening Christmas presents! And especially thank you to everyone who also has a first preference of needing to come to a studio to relax/get strong/get community and who has been able to shift mindset and find the benefits of (ie next Wednesday night Pyjama Yin Yoga!, tomorrow Nerve Flossing Class)
I need to ask for your help, if you can give it. It is not easy for me to ask but please read on below about introducing friends to our online classes to help us make it through. I am doing my very best to keep our teachers working in similar proportions as they did pre-closure. From my insider view I feel many local studios just will not survive this time. So if you can help, please do.
- This is great practice at changing our attitudes.
- Remember you are not locked in your houses, you are safe in your houses. And we are so fortunate to have private spaces to dwell in, unlike those living in poverty that don’t have the luxury of this. And we are allowed out which residents of some other countries aren’t.
- We have gorgeous bright sun and calm autumn energy around us right now.
- Our thoughts lean towards keeping connected and supporting those special people around. Many of us are reaching out to far away friends and family more often. In our home, Sunday nights are now zoom trivia extravaganzas across three states and two continents. In fancy dress too – Think TOGA!
- Bunnings has remained open for those long standing home maintenance jobs. And Woolies is back home delivering again.
- We are trying out our first zoom dinner party.
- We get more quality family time and thankfully we’ve given ourselves a break and haven’t tried to home school the kids over the holidays. I have taken the pressure off myself by renaming ‘home schooling’ as ‘crisis schooling.’ It means my expectations of myself are thankfully lowered and it feels easier. And the government has just taken the pressure off a bit more with their staged return to school plans.
- We have an amazing bakery that is not too close, and warm chocolate croissants sure motivates the kids for an extra long bit of exercise.
- My kids WILL have mastered touch typing by the end of this.
- Australia is doing so well. YOU are doing so well in helping not spread the virus. We will come out different, wiser, with new priorities, and able to take a fresh look at our lives and structures.
- And finally, the only reason you are reading this post now is that I camped with the kids in the backyard last night. It was really fun but by 4 am I found myself wide awake with ‘airbed hips’ and ‘campers back’ so I crept towards the kitchen table to take advantage of my morning writer’s rush. Myself not delegating camping duty to my husband has got to be a good thing!
We have heard so many stories from our members. Many who worked casual jobs and others in selected professions are completely out of work and I understand how it has rippled through so many of you now impacted with downgraded hours or income. Many of you are supporting other family members. And some have needed to freeze their payments for the time being. At Transform our job is to protect your health and save your sanity while you stay home and save lives. I know some of you are going bezerk with extra busy workload due to the virus. And others are ticking all of the above while also managing home schooling. But I encourage you to claim a little slice of sanity just for you and emerge triumphant from Covid-19.