Have a Pity Party, then pick yourself up, dust off and move to Plan B.

Work out how to serve others

Way back in early March 2020, I’d just presented Life Happens – Dealing with the Tough Stuff to a seniors group. Within a week my speaking engagements began to evaporate, one by one, so that my diary was suddenly bereft of appointments gracing her pages. A global pandemic was swallowing life, as we knew it, and along with it, business as we knew it.

Now here I was having to follow my own advice – We have a Choice about how we respond to what happens to us. Would I wallow in self-pity for the year that could have been or could I do something way more constructive?

I’m not sure that I consciously pondered that one, because out-of-the-blue the idea for a new book floated through the ether, through my mind, then my pen and flowed onto the paper before me. What evolved was the consideration that there may be a way of viewing the impact of the pandemic that was different to the popular consensus that the entire world is kaputt forever and it’s now total doom and gloom from here on in.

Unprecedented times have been our experience for many months now, with no end as yet in sight, leaving a devastating trail for families, communities and in some cases entire nations. At the same time, many are experiencing a freedom, a release, a renewal borne out of working from home, relieved of long commutes, office politics and the accumulation of other stressors that were part of their pre-pandemic world.

When Life Is Downside Up – Look For The Silver Lining was written to encourage the reader to see if there were any silver linings in their new, and possibly transient normal. Every chapter explores a downside and then looks for the possible upside.

For me, devoid of speaking engagements or Aged Care Explained* consultations, I’ve had time to be of service to others, with the book being just one way to encourage the forlorn. With the regular busyness no longer the norm, we’ve had time to help an elderly neighbour with meals and hard rubbish removal and another with a semi-regular meal drop off whilst they’re undergoing treatment for a serious illness.

I’ve created an Aged Care Myth buster series to help people understand more about a complex subject and had time to write encouraging content.

It’s becoming clearer every day that when I have my focus on someone else, any problem I think I have seems to shrink or even become obsolete.

It makes you think!

*Aged Care Explained is a consultation service bridging the gap between bewildered families and where the best help can be found for In-Home services or Residential Aged Care.