Life interrupted. We’ve all experienced it. Whether its’s something quick but annoying like a flat tire on the way to a meeting or a more serious, distressing issue like an illness, we have to adjust because the world doesn’t stop moving. I’ve had some recent experience with this, and here are my thoughts on how to deal as best we can.

Take a breath. Really. If life just got upended with something large or small, give yourself a moment to process. We are all entitled to the mess of feelings that comes when we’re hit with the unexpected. You will recalibrate, but it might take a little time. Give yourself that time.

Prioritize. The world does, in fact, keep on spinning despite our own personal stressors. Work needs attention, laundry washed, meals cooked. The business of day to day living can actually provide good balance if we find ourselves stuck in the muck. But, we probably don’t have the capacity for everything we normally would, so prioritize the to-do list. Accomplish the necessary things, and save the rest. They’re not going anywhere.

Be gentle with yourself. Offer yourself the same kindness and care you would if it were a friend struggling with something. You’d encourage them to take a walk in the sunshine, sit with a cup of tea and decompress, go to that yoga class. It’s harder to do it for ourselves, but we’ll be better for it.

Seek out the joy. To risk sounding cliche, tomorrow is not guaranteed. Not for any of us. But, even when our hearts are heavy, we can find moments of joy. Life is messy. There’s no way around it. Still, there is friendship, peace, laughter, and love in the here and now if we orient ourselves toward it.

“He had learned the rare secret that you must take happiness when you find it - that there is no use in marking the place and coming back to it at a more convenient season, because it will not be there then.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Chronicles of Avonlea