Dear essential workers,
Thank you for your service!
Mentioned in one of my recent posts, the initial reason for sewing masks is attributed to my resilient grandmother. My grandmother was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer a little over 10 years ago. Since then, she has fought wholeheartedly as the cancer has spread throughout her body. She drives herself [her preference] to the hospital two, sometimes three, times a week to receive cancer treatments. Instead of just being a possibility, COVID19 is a reality for her.
These past couple of weeks have been extremely difficult after learning that my grandmother tested positive for COVID 19. Haunted by uncertainty, my family and I were unable to be by the side of my grandmother as she fought through yet another battle. It was heartbreaking to realize that after over ten years of battling terminal cancer, the one thing that would possibly take the life of such a wonderful warrior was this horrific virus - and yet IT DID NOT!!! She is still fighting despite all circumstances.
My heart goes out to those who are also fighting this awful battle. My heart goes out to those who have loved ones in the hospital and are unable to be by their side. My heart goes to those who have lost loved ones. My heart goes out to each and every healthcare hero working diligently on the frontline of this pandemic. My heart goes out to all essential workers risking their lives at grocery stores, pharmacies, delivering mail, and fulfilling all other essential roles in serving their communities.
What we are all currently experiencing reminds me of the importance of service and how each and every one of us relies on one another in an inevitable symbiotic system. Within the midst of this current crisis lies the opportunity to discover and adopt new ways that we can all contribute to our community which must first start with ourselves. Within my experience as a healer, more often than less, I encounter clients who are willing to do whatever it takes to help someone else in need, with the exception of first helping themselves. I've done it as well and still do. In fact, I recently caught myself doing this exact thing.
In the midst of going in overdrive with making masks and doing whatever it was that I could do to help my family, I lost touch with myself. One night, I had so many mask orders to fulfill that I stayed up until 6 am sewing only to sleep for several hours and get back up and back to work. Part of myself was using the task of keeping busy to cope with the stress I was experiencing. I know better not to do this, but I suppose, I found myself repeating an old pattern in order to remind myself of the importance of where service starts. It starts from within.
It is not selfish. It is the exact opposite. If we ourselves are mentally, physically, and/or emotionally drained, how then can we support someone else in their time of need? Within the practice of Reiki, two highly important tips are taught. The first is that as a healer, one must practice self-healing regularly to maintain the ability to hold space for others' healing. The second is that whenever we do hold space for healing, we must ensure that we ourselves are comfortable otherwise the life force energy will intuitively be channeled to ourselves more so than the person or thing that we are trying to be an actual channel of healing energy for.
With this being said, my heart goes out to each and every living being who is doing whatever it takes to support their own well-being in the midst of everything that is going on. Believe it or not, you are just as essential as our frontline workers. This new world that we live in today is a scary place and it is great that many of us want to step up and make a positive impact, but it is even greater when we can acknowledge this as an opportune time to serve ourselves as a contribution to the welfare of humanity.
What have you been putting off for far too long with the excuse that you don't have enough time? There is ALWAYS time, especially now. The time is NOW. Want to learn a new language? Want to learn a new hobby? Do you have health and fitness goals? Even with all of the national and local government mandates, there is really nothing standing in our way but ourselves. I share this as a reminder to you as well as to myself. There is nothing that we can offer to the welfare of humanity if the welfare of our own being is out of order.