Life is not on hold

I started this blog post two weeks ago but have been preoccupied with engaging in the increased intensity of the Black Lives Matter movement. 

I was suprised by my strong reaction to the phrase that "life is on hold". 

I understand that many people right now are waiting for things to be better. I also know that my experience of lockdown is a lot more positive than for other people. But I also think we’ve been misled if we think living is only about an expected way of spending our time, that it has to involve pubs or shopping or hugging loved ones, even tho we might be really looking forward to doing those things.

We’re still living, whether we’re in a hospital bed, a prison cell, walking down a littered road or sat for hours on a battered settee. I have been inspired by people who have chosen to fully live even tho life did not go as they planned. People falsely improsoned, people dealing with life changing injuries. 

What if we found life in wherever we were?  What if we looked for the opportunities to learn or to give from wherever we are? The folk who seem most content are those able to give thanks for what is rather than what isn’t. I know it can be difficult- there have been times when I have been stuck in depression when gratitude is really difficult. But I also know know that those times were still part of my life - my plans might have been on hold or in disarray but our lives are not.