resilient, adaptable, creative: human

The person in the photo is my mamma.

I want to tell you about my mum because lately she has been such a beautiful and continuous stream of pleasant surprises for me
She lives in Milan and, as you might know, Milan has been in lockdown for a while now and, thanks to modern technology, we can easily be connected;
we check in on each other, we talk about weather and plants, the current Covid19 situation, how we are doing and so on
In the last few weeks her ability to adapt, her bursts of resilience and eagerness to make the best out of a situation that could really throw her
in utter despair and misery has filled my heart with joy and admiration. I have found myself cry often in awe of her and her spark to live
She has reconnected with her pleasure for baking and cooking. She has been making cakes, fresh gnocchi, tagliatelle and piadine - you can Google this stuff, if you want to;
she has been using YouTube to learn new recipes and she has learnt how to share them on whatsapp (and that is something, believe me);
she has been attending on-line zumba, HIIT, pilates, chair yoga, exercises for grandparents (that's how she calls it), dancing, she uses an indoors step to do "steps exercises";
she has limited TV and news time to one hour a day; she has planted herbs on her balcony and she does a little run with Perla once or twice a day;
she also has daily conversations with her beautiful geraniums...she doesn't tell me that but I know ;); I was and still am in awe and wordless
Honestly, I was worried she might really find staying home a struggle and a reason to moan at life but she flipped the situation, making it into a time of creation and pleasure
She doesn't find receiving praise and compliments easy, she actually easily rejects and deflects them (I know where that might come from...),
so I make sure that every day I compliment and praise her asking her to accept them because she is worth every single word

Why am I sharing this with you?
Because we humans are resilient, adaptable and creative, strong, adaptable and wise
And we need to believe this
Often the society we have created want us to believe otherwise, that we are fragile and broken and in constant need of fixing with external expertise
I think there are times when we absolutely need external guidance
And it feels so precious when we find the one that works

I think there are also times when we need to stop asking others "what shall I do?" and sit with our inner compass
Asking ourselves "what do I need from myself now? what brings me joy? what nourishes me?"
The answer is there, within
The answer may be "I don't know"
Can we remember, then, that clarity can be born out of chaos?
That "not knowing" does not mean we are not resilient, adaptable, creative
We still have those qualities and we need to believe we do

I am sure that you have created something so incredible during this lockdown
And if you don't believe me, think of this: you are navigating through uncertain times in the best you can and that's enough resilience, adaptability and creativity
But maybe no one has told you? Or you haven't told yourself?
So I invite you to look around yourself or within yourself and honour your resilience, your adaptability and creativity

With love, Babs