What Does Happiness Mean to You Right Now?

This has been a year of challenges, frustration, heartache, and not knowing what to do next. We are left to our own devices to create some kind of normalcy in our homes. In about two weeks, we celebrate Thanksgiving and for sure, it will probably be quite different for many families. Let us just stop for a minute here and offer our condolences to any of our readers who have suffered unbearable losses. Our hearts are with you.

Many of these emotions are new to us and can feel awkward because we have lived a certain way and changes are occurring rapidly—some of them becoming permanent. The important thing to remember is even though this is a whole different way of looking at the world (masks, social distancing, grocery limitations, etc.) that doesn’t necessarily mean our lives are taking a turn for the worse if we keep our health intact.

Our outlook can eventually become one of encouragement and an incentive to change things for the better. For instance, we know of a person who is now permanently working full-time from home since her company has suspended “live” operations on-site for all employees and permanently closed its physical doors. This has been a blessing for her not to have to commute to work every day and, additionally, for her second grader who is now enjoying homeschooling and having mom nearby.

Open the Door and Get Some Fresh Air

“Happiness sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.” (John Barrymore, American actor)

It’s true, some of us are feeling a bit isolated right now not being able to see our friends and family in person much. We are beginning to realize life may never really be the same as before this pandemic. So, the best effort we can make would be to “reinvent” our lives for the better.

We can start by figuring out what happiness currently means to us. Like right now. Today. This week. This month. It probably will be quite different than last year so really think about it. What is our number one need and how can we find a way to make that happen?

Would connecting with a friend be our current wish? That might mean picking up the phone to hear their voice instead of emailing or texting. Or maybe meeting for lunch in a park if we stay six feet apart. We not only will cause our own happiness but cause our friend some happiness too. Bingo!

Are we really missing out on some great food? True, we may not be able to go to our favorite restaurant if they don’t have dine-in service, but we certainly can go to the grocery store, pick up some items, go home, and surprise ourselves by trying out a new recipe. There will probably be leftovers for tomorrow too.

It’s possible we are going “stir crazy” staying at home so much. And even though we thought all our closets and drawers would get cleaned out and organized once and for all, it just hasn’t happened. So maybe gathering a few family members, packing up the car, and going camping for a few days will change our outlook drastically.

Where Is Our Happiness?

Okay, we get the idea. We can certainly go through that door and make our own happiness. Try out old things in a new way. Develop new daily routines. Let’s face it--we are the only ones holding ourselves back. Everyone is in the same boat right now so no sense making things worse by complaining, whining, and giving up. That’s not us. Life is a big challenge, especially now, but we are strong, determined women ready for anything. Let’s make it happen!

The last suggestion to move closer to happiness is to either continue praying or start praying for friends, family, neighbors, our cities, states, country, and the world that we will see an end to Covid-19 in the near future. Those are seven important categories, so maybe choose one each day and really pray for needs to be met whatever they are.  

God knows. 

God cares.

God helps.

He’s waiting to hear from us.

"Make me walk along the path of your commands, for that is where my happiness is found" (Psalm 119:35 NLT).

 

Nine Ways to Bend the Curve

Make someone's day

It would be reasonable to think that there are not that many greeting cards bought or sent these days as compared to say fifty years ago. Maybe because of the price of a postage stamp. Maybe because the electronic age is in full swing and has basically replaced what they call “snail mail” because we are all in a super-rush these days. Who has any extra time anyway? And there are so many other reasons too.

So, we might be surprised to learn “according to the Greeting Card Association, Americans purchase 6.5 billion greeting cards each year. Hallmark publishes cards in more than 30 languages and distributes them in more than 100 countries.” https://www.hallmark.com/cards/

Wow! Who knew! And this is just one (major) card company; there are also others to add. 

There may be many among us who still enjoy sending and, of course, receiving a welcome note or greeting from a friend or family member. It’s still fun and can brighten our day no matter what is going on in our lives. Sometimes it’s obvious why the card appears in our mailbox—a birthday, congratulations, thank you, or graduation day. It can even deeply touch our hearts if the card is one of sympathy. On all these occasions, we know someone cares and has not forgotten us.

What Are We to Do?

In these strange and terrifying days we live in right now, buying and sending a card to someone may seem very trivial and of little importance. In fact, there are plenty of merchants right now who are going out of business due to all the confusion, illness, and rioting in our world. We surely have never seen such chaos.

But what are we to do? We may be wrong, but it seems that the only solution to returning to “normal” is to:

Be a good neighbor

First, do our part and be responsible to our worldly neighbors by following the guidelines given by medical (not political) professionals. No. No one is trying to take away our freedom! Do we wear seatbelts in our cars? Do we wait at the sign to cross the street? Do we pay for our food or clothing items at the register? And so on. Why? Because if we do, we will enjoy a better world without chaos.

Second, we can try our best to continue caring for other human beings and strive for normalcy. We all know this is true because we as single-again women have been through a chaotic situation ourselves just getting to this point in our lives. We know how good it feels to finally reach a turning point and have a friend encourage us to keep on, keeping on.

In the same way, we can support, encourage, and care for others in many ways. We can manage to do something instead of sitting around twiddling our thumbs or worse yet, participating in rioting (hatred and anger), destroying businesses (stealing/shoplifting), protesting (complaining), and generally stoking the cause rather than finding solutions to our current problems.                 

Nine Ways to Bend the Curve

If we were asked to make a list of what we could individually do to help our friends and neighbors, what would that be? Try it.

1. Buy/make extra face coverings and handing them out to others
2. Cook/bake a dish to share with someone out of work
3. Babysit for a single Mom
4. Smile and thank the clerk at the grocery store
5. Volunteer at a food bank once a week
6. Leave a larger tip to a waitress
7. Pick up groceries for a shut-in neighbor
8. Surprise a friend with a flowering plant
9. Send thank you cards to the local police/fire station/hospital

Your turn. Go ahead and add to this list.

“As for the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good” (2 Thessalonians 3:13 NLT).

Healing the Wounds

God will hear our prayers

Everyone is hurting right now in some way or another. Even if the virus has not hit our households personally, just watching others suffer is painful. Seeing our family members struggle with job loss is excruciating. Watching multiple members of one family lose their lives is agonizing.

If we can do nothing else, we can all do one thing. In fact, we should be doing this first. We can pray without stopping. God will hear. He wants to see us return to an even better situation than we had in the past. A life with Him and for Him. That IS the solution.

“Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT).