I must say that to write today’s post for The Boss’s blog was a bit of a challenge… It took me a while to think about the topic… What to write about when the world is upside down and I have not yet been able to put myself “upside down” too, so as to live on it without falling off…?

I actually had this thought and then realize that The Boss -a.k.a as Phil or Felipe- is a visionary, when hanging the “Phil’s Camino yellow arrow” sign upside down… (Think about it!!!)

Anyway, live has been crazy busy in these latitudes, lots going on in the country -where we are right now experiencing the peak of the pandemic, with a new strict lockdown in place-, lots of workload at work as a result of the new peaks of the pandemic in so many places in the world, and certainly my inner self has been struggling to find balance and rhythm… It has been challenging to reflect and “breathe in” that life, as we knew it, won’t be the same for quite a while…

And let me do a confession here: there have been moments, when to “breathe in” this idea has been scary…

But then, I somehow reflected that I have been in this situation before. Actually: All of us. Not under the name of a pandemic, clearly, but I can almost guarantee that all of us have been in a situation where in a moment, as a result of some news or events, our lives changed in a way that we knew they would never go back to what they used to be. Just think on our Felipe: receiving a diagnosis of Cancer changed his life for ever.

And yet, I kept reflecting that our lives have kept going on, and in many opportunities, in a pretty nicely way… like in Italy during the pandemic: there has been lots of singing in the balconies.

And I remembered all the things that we have overcome as humanity, as countries, as communities, as neighborhoods, as human beings… In psychology, they use the word “resilience”, this capacity human beings have to adapt to adversity and get stronger, but our pilgrim’s dictionary says that it is our capacity to trust again, to have faith, to say “yes”, to raise our heads above the water after being thrown in the deepest of the seas; it is this instinct of survival, this force of life…

And as I was reflecting on this, a poem from David Whyte (“The True Love”) where he quotes Peter walking over the waters towards the boat where Jesus was in came to my mind… because you know: an image is worth a thousand words…

“And I think of the story of the storm and the people
waking and seeing the distant, yet familiar figure,
far across the water calling to them.
And how we are all preparing for that abrupt waking
and that calling and that moment when we have to say yes!
Except it will not come so grandly, so biblically,
but more subtly, and intimately in the face
of the one you know you have to love.
So that when we finally step out of the boat
toward them we find, everything holds us,
and everything confirms our courage.”

If you are having one of “those days”, when you are struggling with this thought of what the future will bring, my prescription for you is to read these lines a couple times (you can trust my prescription, I am a Health Care professional!!)

Stepping out of the boat Loves,
Cris