Life is on hold. Since this is a daunting and upsetting time for so many of us, I wanted to drop in and give you some tips and share some insights to get over this crisis and to get through it in better mental shape than when this whole thing started.

I’m here in the Swiss Alps, rather close to the Italian border, where the pandemic outbreak really started to take its toll in Europe.

My heart goes out to all that have either been infected with the virus, suffered from going through a rough time financially during the lockdowns, and especially to those who have lost a loved one through it all.

I also wanted to say how much I admire the workforce in the healthcare system, doctors, nurses, first responders and many more that fight each day and night for other people’s lives. Shocking and saddening – often they seem to go without the right equipment in many countries and that of course is shocking, upsetting and outright terrifying.  

I’m in the high-risk group

I’m top of the list of patients at high risk and of course, this brings lots of change into my life. I’m very glad to be able to socially distance myself from other family members that still go to work. At the moment, my husband is the only person I see over the weekends, and that is only possible because he works from home and practices social distancing from our son… So we all give up things, in order to either stay healthy or not infect others. We also do it to not bring the health system to a breakdown and help flatten this curve.

I have not seen my daughter or son for more than a month now and thanks to WhatsApp calls, we at least can sit around a table and eat together, while we are each virtually present at each other’s dinner table. But the reality is, that this will not blow over in a few days… We are in this for a while and that is what I want to talk about in more detail.

When life is on hold, which it is for more or less each one of us right now, we go through different emotions. We might be scared, shocked, overwhelmed. We may be quite OK until we realize that staying at home is not as fun as we thought. We might be really worried about our business or paycheck or where the economy is heading. 

This is the reality

Now the reality of all of the above is, that we don’t know for sure what is coming our way. And if we keep concentration on the unknown, it can be a fearful and scary place to be in. What we do know is in the right now. 

Yes, it is possible that I might be infected, and yes if I would be, statistically I might end up in hospital on a ventilator and might even die, because of my preexisting conditions. 

But all I do know is that I’m healthy right now and take any precautions I can take to not get infected. I enjoy the sun on my skin when I sit outside, I watch my lovely dog Coco run around in the freshly grown spring grass and I cook dinner each night and while eating it, chat with my family on video. 

It could be much worse and there is no point in hanging onto what might be, instead of accepting what is. And there it is – that one thing that is so difficult to so many of us. Accepting what is right now. Being in the present.

Now what I feel this boils down to is, by accepting what is, we accept who we are. Because we are asked to do this right now, we are asked to sit tight and be with ourselves. And that is why so many struggle. To be and not to do anything. To sit tight and accept.

I have learned this lesson a while back and I can assure you, I’m a pro by now. My accident a few years back has taught me. Five operations later, with the last one only 6 weeks ago, now feels like ten years ago because of what happened since then. I have learned to accept what is. 

First I was unable to walk and needed many operations on both my feet, but then 2 years ago, waking up from an operation, I also had what I call brain fog. I had the feeling that my brain had been shot into the universe and had not really found its way back. 

Now after accepting not being able to walk for a long time, I needed to accept that my brain was not functioning the way it had. I was not able to read books or watch a movie, because my brain was over exhausted for a few months. Again, I learned to accept.

But don’t feel sorry for me, I’m much better now and the process has been a great teacher to me. All my life I wanted to work on what was bothering me and I did. Step by step I unpacked the luggage that I had with me and with the help of different methods I worked on myself and on what was coming my way. I never stood still, I always wanted to know more, go deeper, unpack all and bring it to the service, so whatever was bothering me was brought to light in order to look at it, analyze it and accept or change it.

This is where life brought me

That brought me here, happy to sit around with myself. Happy with how I am, where I am and what I have to offer. When everything is stripped away from you and you sit here right now with billions of others around the world and have to live with the circumstances that life throws at you – then you are at the right time to make peace with what is and who you are. It is also a wonderful time to reflect on where you are, what you might have given up in the process of life that actually has meant a lot to you. It is the time to listen to your true self and deeply connect with your soul. Because, in the end, this is all we have. 

When everything is stripped away from you, then it’s time to listen within and before I share some breathing techniques to calm you, I invite you to download my free guide here to dig deeper into your knowledge about yourself and find some great tools to help you along.

I would love to show you a breathing technique to instantly calm you down. You can do it whenever you feel that anxiety or fear overwhelm you or when you have the feeling that you need to just get your head in the right space again.

Breathe in to the count of 4: 1, 2, 3, 4.
Hold your breath to the count of 4; 1, 2, 3, 4.
and breathe out to the count of 8… 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

How does that feel, lovely?

Do this a few times and listen to what you hear outside. You are here in peace, whatever is happening outside or outside of your control.

Here is how it goes:

Breathing in to the count of 4, holding your breath to the count of 4, and breathing out to 8. Breathe in such a way for 3 to 4 minutes and then go slowly back to your normal breathing. Coming back in a much calmer and more collected way.

If you would like me to do a Q&A or share more, please comment on this post and let me know. I am happy to serve at this time of turmoil.

Stay healthy, stay safe and stay sane.

Much love,
Carollyne

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