A Walk On The Bright Side

March 26, 2020

Well these last few weeks… have been a whirlwind at best and slowly I’ve been settling into this new pandemic lifestyle. Which has proven quite the transition from where I was not too long ago, what now feels like another lifetime, shuffling between my office, therapy sessions and face to face meetings all week. Mornings at Orangetheory, fetching vanilla lattes mid afternoon, time spent out with friends and family on the weekends. Supperclub with the girls, monthly book club and weekly date nights with my husband at our neighborhood watering holes. Any extra time being dedicated to Gisele Chic, or making future plans for trips with friends: wow have times changed so quickly.

But as absolutely heartbreaking as COVID-19 is, this entry is meant to explore the silver lining if you will. A chance to take a walk on the bright side, quite literally.

I’ve found a new routine. And it still involves exercise in the morning, thank goodness, given the amount of goods I’ve consumed since being scared silly into stocking up at the grocery stores and signing up for unlimited delivery on Postmates. Now more than ever I am so incredibly grateful to live in a neighborhood with such ornate landscaping, hilly streets and colorful vegetation. Each morning I either run outside or use our building’s gym, desperately attempting to recreate the intensity of my Orangetheory classes, now appropriately renamed ArthurTheory, as a nod to my husbands best efforts at HIT choreography. I am most certainly not working out to the standards set by my previous coaches, however, being outside is really great, especially as Spring is setting into full bloom.

The work days haven’t changed too much, they just require more effort being remote. In my profession I am always talking, but for some reason doing over the phone and video chat is proving so much more incredibly draining. At the end of each the day, I feel exhausted in a new way, perhaps I am just tired of myself? But it is nice wearing sweatpants, I don’t miss wearing real pants AT ALL.

Many of my friends have started lively video chats for us all to pour our lives and wine into. If you haven’t yet been invited to a virtual hangout, please start one yourself. I’ve also poured myself into creativity with this blog, photography from our walks and my Pinterest boards.

In other positive news, our home remodel is so much closer to being finished, which feels incredibly timely right now, as we have no where else to be. We’ve been re-watching Sex and The City, still mourning the loss of our beloved Pierre of course, taking each day as another opportunity to focus on what we do have, which is a home we’ve thrown our blood, sweat and tears into that I am praying we can start to fully enjoy sooner than later.

Bur perhaps the biggest joy right now appear to be our routine sunset walks, where we break from the day before heading into night with the sun, reconnecting with ourselves and each other. It’s been a game changer so far, what I look forward to most everyday, a wonderful release from the stress work and the state of the world bring, a chance to be reinvigorated with optimism, knowing that the very least, the sun will rise again. The world will preserve it’s beauty and as of yet, flowers haven’t been affected by the virus.

Making meaning in times of uncertainty is ultimately a gift. And I have found so much gratitude in what I have already had the privilege to do. Travel, education, human connection all seem so much more sacred right now and any opportunities we have for expansion is something of great value. Thank goodness we have ways to connect, ways to help each other and hopefully time to explore ourselves on deeper levels.

Let’s take what we can from this global pandemic, let’s make it something worthwhile, let’s try to find our way to brighter days.

-MGN

Monica Gisele Simanovsky

Monica Gisele Simanovsky