“All great changes are preceded by chaos” – Deepak Chopra

I was reading an article this morning, saw this quote and suddenly my day felt just a little bit brighter.  It is absolutely true.

I believe the Universe sets out to help us have the best life possible.  Sometimes, being human, we get in the way of the changes necessary to create our best lives.  We might be scared to take that first course leading to a new career, or keep putting off reading that one book that will help us see what our next step should be. We may hesitate to step into our best life but life doesn’t slow down for us.  When we are getting in the way of progress and growth – life will simply make us so uncomfortable that we have no choice but to change.

Consider that thought for a moment.  Any time you have experienced great discomfort, loss, even hurt or anger – what has followed immediately after?  Change.

This pandemic has forced all of us into an untenable situation.  We are restricted to our homes.  .  We have had to let go of everything we thought mattered (e.g. material things) and brought back to core essentials – health and family.  We have come together as a community, and as a province, to take care of each other and ourselves.  We are refocusing our energy on how we can create a “new normal” that allows us to protect our health and the health of those around us.

I, like all of my K-Plus families, am juggling working from home and caring for a beloved 2-year old and it is difficult.  But it is also pretty fantastic and I’ll tell you why.  I have been rushing to connect with parents and teachers; to learn how to create a blog and hurry to get school work and day plans posted so parents can continue teaching their children without missing a beat.  But I was doing it all wrong.

When else in life would I be able to drop everything and spend the day taking adventure walks with Phoenix (my son), sitting together for breakfast, lunch and dinner, have picnics on our balcony and get to know our neighbor Nettie (who lives alone) so that we can check in on her each day.  Phoenix has seen more of his grandparents on FaceTime since March 13th (the day our family began to self-quarantine) than he had seen them the whole year prior.  We have also attended two virtual birthday parties in the last month and I’m delighted to say that they were fantastic and without presents or blow-up castles!  The best part was seeing Phoenix’s face light up at the sight of his little friends on our iPad.  We are getting back to the core values behind events and activities.  It is the friendships, connections and shared love that are the most important.

I recognize that we are incredibly blessed to not have contracted COVID-19 and my heart breaks for those who have lost loved ones to this pandemic.  But for those of us who have been healthy and home, I encourage you to think of all you have gained during this time.  Just remember, the chaos is simply a sign of great changes to come.

Sending much love and care to all families.

Warmly,

Ms. Fortin