We are all experiencing an unprecedented situation that has never happened before, so there is no roadmap, guidebook or plan to follow. 

In the blink of an eye, the way we do anything and everything has changed… from the way we go about our days, to the way we live, work, play, and shop, to the way we connect with the people we care about, to the way our children are educated. 

Across our world, COVID has brought uncertainty, fear, stress and anxiety, and a wide range of different emotions… but it is also affecting individual countries, individual homes, and individual people in unique ways too.

What we all need to do right now collectively to save lives is similar wherever we live… but what we need to do individually, how we go about our days, and what we do and don’t do will be unique to every single one of us too, depending on where we live, our health, our work and our own personal situations and circumstances.

So that means what we need to do to get through each day and the unprecedented challenges we all now face, to keep ourselves and others safe, and to support ourselves and each other, will be unique to every single one of us too.

Modern life isn’t designed to be low in stress at the best of times; there is pressure everywhere you look to think, feel or act a certain way… to fit in, do and be what is “expected”… so many people have an opinion on what you “should” be doing…. and everywhere you turn there are constant messages telling you that who you are and what you are doing right now is not good enough.

Not only are we being restricted in what we can and can’t do, where we can and can’t go, and when we can and can’t do those things, there is also more pressure around us than ever before to think, feel or do things in a certain way, and more opinions of what we “should” be doing, which can lead to confusion, anxiety and feelings of “not enough”…. not being good enough, not coping well enough, not doing enough. 

Whatever anyone else is saying or doing is based on their own personal situation, their own perception of what’s happening and what they think people should be doing, their own internal working model of the world and themselves, and their own fears and anxieties.

But the only person who is living your life, who knows your own unique situation, who is walking in your shoes, is you.

So please do what truly and deeply feels right for you and your unique family in your own unique situation right now, in your own unique and beautiful way… even and especially if that is messy! 

We are all living in an unprecedented situation that has never happened before.

We are all creating and building this path as we are walking along it, working it out as we go, step by step, doing the best we can. 

We are all doing the best we can in any moment with the resources we have available at that time….and our best is always good enough. 

Who you are right now is more than good enough, what you are doing is more than good enough. 

So hold onto that with all of your heart, and trust yourself. 

Give yourself permission to create your path in your own unique way, depending on where you are right now, what direction you want to be travelling in, and any obstacles you meet on the path ahead. 

Give yourself permission to do things in your own unique way… whatever that looks like for you. 

Give yourself permission to lower your expectations of what you think you should be doing.

Focus your attention on what is truly most important to you. On what matters the most to you, right here, right now. 

Make choices from a place of compassion not fear, and forgive yourself if or when you get it wrong. 

Then take one step at a time, no matter how small, and go as slowly as you need to. 

What you need to do tomorrow, next day or next week may change… but you only have this moment in time, and this moment determines the next. 

So do whatever truly and deeply feels right for you in this moment.

And be kind to yourself. 

We are all learning how to navigate this new, uncertain and scary space one step at a time. 

You are not alone. 

We are all in this together.