Times are tough. We are all suffering to varying degrees physically, mentally, emotionally, all of the above. The hardest thing about all of it is the uncertainty. I’m sure many of us wake up each morning or go to bed at night with this one thought lingering in our minds: when will this pandemic end? Unfortunately, no one really knows.

This whole year has felt like one big wet blanket hanging over all of our plans for 2020. Most of us have canceled everything for the year. One after another after another of our plans got postponed to 2021 or outright canceled. I was so looking forward to 2020 too. I had plans to see my family three times. We were going to visit the coast with them and have them out for a family reunion in August in Mt. Hood, then fly back east to see them for the holidays. Our close friends had a wedding planned in Hawaii in June. We booked our flights almost a year in advance. A big group of us booked yurts in Central Oregon for the 4th of July. I bought James Taylor tickets for my husband for Valentine’s Day and were were excited to see him play in May. Most, if not all, of these plans are canceled and rescheduled for 2021.

I don’t know about you, but I love making plans. I love filling up my calendar with fun things, so that there are activities to look forward to ahead. This year is the year you can’t plan. Not knowing when this will end pretty much puts the kibosh on future planning.

So we feel stuck. We aren’t used to just living in the now. We’d prefer to live for the future and count the days until some event is due to happen. The pandemic has forced everyone to slow down and recognize the importance of the NOW. It is easier to ignore the fear of uncertainty, if you just enjoy each and every moment as it is happening.

During this pandemic, I decided to partake in a 21 Day Meditation focused on Abundance via a group message. Each day you listened to a mediation by Deepak Chopra and then completed a task. Day 19, there was a parable about a King who had a message written on the bottom of a diamond to be read only in his most desperate moment. So, when he was cornered by his enemies and about to fall over a cliff, he looked at the bottom of the ring and read the words, “This too shall pass.”

He found these words comforting and realized his enemies got lost and he was safe. He returned home and had a big celebration and was super happy. The sage who gave him the message told him in that moment to read the message again. He was confused as to why, but the sage said just like bad times, good times are also not permanent.

I believe that in times like our current one, these words are so important to remember.

Since as far back as I can remember, this phrase has been a guiding light in my life. Every time I felt stuck, lost, challenged in anyway, my mother would always remind me: THIS TOO SHALL PASS. As we stare off into this abyss that is the 2020 pandemic, unsure of whether it all will end tomorrow or next year, we must remember these words. Everything is temporary, the good and the bad moments in life all will fade eventually.

Some of us are really struggling right now, having gotten sick, had a loved one get sick or god forbid die from COVID. There are those working on the front lines suffering to work among the sick. Others are suffering, because they were laid off or their business was forced to close. A lot of us are feeling the heavy weight of loneliness, despair, and anxiety. My message to all of you is: THIS TOO SHALL PASS. It feels endless, hard, and impossible to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it is there glowing bright and waiting for you.

For the lucky ones at home with loved ones, working, baking, trying out new hobbies each day, make sure you are really enjoying every moment as it happens. Enjoy the long talks with your partner, the long walks in your neighborhood, the new recipes, and crafting projects. Enjoy playing with your children that you normally wouldn’t see as much. Don’t take this time for granted, even if you’ve simply been reading and hanging out with your family. We may long for the days when things were easier, busier, and less uncertain, but when life truly gets back to “normal” we will miss these days at home. So remember as well that THIS TOO SHALL PASS. Enjoy these moments where things have slowed down and forced us to appreciate the small things. Enjoy having so much extra time on your hands.

I know it is hard when you’re in the thick of it to stop and remember these four simple words, but it is important for our mental state and our ability to let life pass calmly by us like a river rushing over boulders. We all let life pass by us too quickly, we stress about deadlines and rush through important milestones and events. So wherever you are in life right now, whether it be extremely tough or surprisingly easy, just repeat these words to yourself: THIS TOO SHALL PASS.