Today I had an errand to run that took me out of the house. I decided to do my grocery shopping at the same time, so that I’d only be going to the one store, and only going out once. The whole process ended up being a bit more complicated than I initially expected – it resulted in me being out of the house for close to four hours.

And during that time, I spent much of it alone (well, not alone, Koski was with me of course!) in my car. I used the time to listen to some treasured music (The Man from Snowy River soundtrack…a glorious instrumental score that brings to my mind the beauty of that movie which my Dad and I love).

It was a ridiculously sunny day – one of those days you’d describe as “not a cloud in the sky.” And my route took me along the Lakeshore, near the mouth of the Humber River. I smiled, looking at the way the sun sparkled off condo windows, and the blue of Lake Ontario. And for the first time in many days, I spent hours not listening to CP24.

Now, you might expect this to be a post about how being away from the news helped me relax. But it really didn’t. I’m learning about myself as we move through these days of physical distancing. And one of the things I’ve learned is that my imagination is far too active. If I don’t have good, solid reliable, steady information about the state of this pandemic, I imagine that which is so much worse. I begin to panic, thinking that while I’ve been away there’s been a turn for the (unimaginably) worse, or that I’ve missed some vital piece of information.

That’s not the case for everyone – I’ve heard so many calls across Social Media to walk away from the coverage, to get out from the endless data and updates. And if that works for you – then God bless you and go to it. But if it doesn’t work for you – that’s ok, too.

We all react to things differently. And as we move through these unprecedented days, we each need to figure out how to be kind to ourselves. It’s one of the pieces that we sometimes forget in all this. You are God’s creation, dearly loved – so dearly, that Jesus laid down his life for you. You are precious in his sight, so be kind to yourself.

On that note, I want to share with you this song that Andrew Peterson wrote for his 12 year old daughter, when she was having trouble being kind to herself:

Until tomorrow dear friends – remember that you are beloved, and be kind to yourself!