My partner and I were sharing a moment last night and found ourselves, as we often do, at the same knot of thought: how incredibly lucky we are to sharing this quarantine moment with someone we really love and someone we can be ourselves with. With both of us having lived for a long time in relationships that were built on “oh well, it is what it is, it probably doesn’t get any better than this” philosophises, we can appreciate even more the amazing place we are in right now. And we feel really, truly lucky.
And we both concluded that, if we are to teach our son anything during this parenting gig we got, it is to never settle for less than what makes his heart sing. Brene Brown identifies a basic human need that must be met in our feeling that we belong, that we are seen fully, just the way we are and loved. Sure, it will be important for our beloved son to know how to write a letter, count his money, cook a meal and brush his teeth. But what being stuck between four walls with our family over this past five weeks has taught us is that, at the basis of genuine living and thriving lies the connection we form with the ones we choose to have around us, the truth in our relationships and the permission we give ourselves to feel and be ourselves around them. These days, it is the thought that we could have chosen to take a different path and continue to fake life that scares me more than any virus in the world could.
If you have a minute, take some time and listen to Unlocking Us – Permission to Feel. It is a great reminder of the above. Never settle for pseudo-living when you can have the real thing.
Photo by Joacim Bohlander on Unsplash
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