Finding Connections Again

Feeling a bit hazy?

More distracted than usual?

The urge to connect with others?

Maybe the need to take a little extra care of you?

February is the month for love. But not just the romantic kind. After being quarantined, locked down and isolated most of last year, our minds and bodies are craving affection.

We daydream about what life was before COVID-19. Then are left with a longing for some type of connection. For many of us, this means connecting with family that we now only see on a screen. People we could once hug we now cannot reach out and touch. We are left with an almost distracted feeling by trying to remember what it was like before.

Then there is the type of affection we urn for from those that are physical in our homes, like spouses, parents, and kids. Again, we want what we had before. When you would come from work and everyone was happy to see you. But for the last year you have been working from home, never giving them a chance to miss you.

Tensions are high as well as frustrations. We are grateful to be safe but are needing connections with more than the same 4 people.

So where do we go from here?

We cannot change the world around us but we can hold ourselves accountable for how we are feeling and what we can do to make it better. We can build and grow connections with new ideas and tools. We can take a step back to appreciate our situation instead of feeling stuck. We can be more gentle on ourselves and even love ourselves more.

Ever heard of the saying you have the give to get? If there is something lacking, give more of it for you to receive it back. A lot easier said than done, I know. But with a little bit of imagination and persistence, you might just beabe to feel the love in the air again. The haze will clear and you will be able to focus on what’s important to you again. With clarity will come more solutions. New ideas to connect with those far and at home. Even the strength to connect with yourself again.

Some things I have started to do to reconnect are:

Make the most of alone time. Don’t just scroll on your phone. Stretch, read, breathe, have a warm beverage with a soft blanket. Just a few moments to connect with yourself again can change the whole day.

I have started writing handwritten letters again. Yes, snail mail is even slower now than it used to be but the intimacy of a handwritten letter is something no one experiences anymore. You can even do this to reconnect with those that are living with you.

Try doing more than the bare minimum for those that are with you every day. Take your kid for example. You are responsible for caring for them but when was the last time you did something out of routine? Staying up late to play a card game, eating ice cream for breakfast, showing interest in their youtube world are all activities that will catch them off guard and help you reconnect. This goes for spouses, roommates, friends, whoever you are with on a daily basis. Do something for them out of the norm and you will be surprised at how it will help rebuild that connection you are missing.