Week #325 – Find the Yes!
As we turn the corner into December, I can see there are four Fridays left in 2020…which has me thinking:
What does this year have to teach us?
I’m not one for assigning purpose to tragedy…I think we’re fully capable of learning things without losing people, bearing heartache, or watching dreams die.
Still, I do think there are things to be learned in loss. Not because of the loss necessarily…but in spite of it.
2020 is kind of like that. We’ve all had to learn things we didn’t want to learn. Yet learn them we did. But the question remains: will we be better for it?
One big lesson for me this year was “finding the yes.”
In a year full of NO…what we CAN do has become super important. This is not about complacency. Oh no…we should not rest in our yeses. But while we are busy fighting, resisting, protesting, and making our voices heard…life goes on and we need to live out the YES.
- Can’t go to movies? Go to a drive in.
- Can’t work out at the gym? Take it outside.
- Can’t go out to eat? Order in.
- Can’t gather inside? Take it to the park or patio.
But here in Los Angeles, just as we’re getting kind of getting kind of used to this new normal…we find ourselves restricted again. Which feels like a bit of a blow. After all, we were just getting the hang of it!
Many of us are facing a lot of NOs this holiday season. Lots of nos. It’s crushing. But we can’t settle for it. We can’t take no for an answer. There is a yes there somewhere. And it’s up to us to find it.
- Can’t host the family? Schedule an outside visit.
- Can’t do an outside visit? Schedule a drive by.
- Can’t do a drive by? Send cards, make phone calls, and of course…
- There’s always Zoom. (UGH!!!)
There are tons of ways I’ve seen people turning NOs into YESes.
- Stuck inside? Declutter.
- No travel? Tour your home town!
- Mall closed? Shop small.
- Learn to cook, learn to bake, learn resilience.
This year has taught us a lot about resilience. Not just the benefits of it…but the importance of it as a learned skill: for survival, for well being, to help ourselves so we can help others. And that’s what’s most important, because for every no we are hearing someone else is hearing it too. And it may be more than they can bear.
Your Happyness Challenge for the Week Ahead: Find the Yes! We can’t just all give in to NO. Someone needs to stand up to it. To test its boundaries. To challenge its limits. To find out what it’s really made of. Because sometimes NO does keep us safe from harm…and other times, it’s an opportunity to teach us what we’re really made of.
Spread Happyness — Find the Yes!!!
12/4/20 by Grace Church
© Grace Church
grace@spreadhappyness.com