Funny Motivational Speaker Amy Dee’s blog,
The coronavirus is frightening, making this is a challenging time.
When I hear people on the news or in blog posts refer to coronavirus as “The toughest thing I’ve ever been through.” I wonder what heartbreaking story they will tell.
Does this person have…
-Loved ones who have died, alone, from Covid19 complications?
-Are they worried about their people, isolated in hospitals or long-term care facilities?
-Are they poverty-stricken, unable to pay their rent, and forced to stand for hours in line to get food handouts to feed their children?
-Is this person a healthcare worker, who has helplessly watched scores of people die. Is she quarantined from family members? Is she re-applying a mask over her sore red-lined face, then exhaustedly delving into another 12-hour shift where she will put her life at risk to care for morbidly sick people?
Nope. It turns out they feel frustrated because life is difficult right now and their frustration is real and well-deserved.
This is a tough time.
We can’t visit friends and family.
You may have to juggle the complications of working from home while homeschooling children.
You may have cancelled weddings, graduation celebrations or family reunions.
Our incomes may be either partially or severely impacted.
This is a heavy, taxing time.
But, if, like me, your experience is best described by latter paragraph, and you still claim that “This is the toughest thing I’ve ever been through.”
You are blessed.
Before you scold me for negating other’s feelings, I am not. Instead, I challenge the language they embrace while describing their experience because their words matter.
Language creates images, and these images affect your psychological processing. Your words and thoughts create the filter through which you experience the world.
Words matter. With no lemon present consider this description: You choose a yellow lemon and breath in its clean, sharp, citrus smell. You slice off a wedge and, biting into its lemony flesh, feel the bright, acidic juices pour into your mouth.
If you are like most people, this creative description alone can make you salivate.
Words help shape your world. When you make the statement, “my family doesn’t appreciate me.” Your brain will seek evidence to prove this is true, and your emotions will respond to all the evidence you found by erupting an outpouring of discouragement, sadness, or anger.
So, by all means, explore your feelings during this difficult time. But, be both careful and curious about the language you choose.
Your personal power is either hindered or helped by how you interpret a situation or event.
Your words matter.
