Hello all my fellow socially distanced or not-yet socially distanced friends. We are entering week two of this new normal, and the learning experiences keep on coming.

One of my wise friends shared with me that’s she’s been viewing this whole thing as a mussar test from the get-go. I love that.

This does feel like a pop quiz, in a sense. Like, how much emunah and bitachon do I really have? How well have I internalized the many messages I’ve posted and written about over the years?

Even though I’ve been failing more than I would like (awkward), I am also heartened by the things that are going well, the things that are going right. The things that I’ve put a lot of time and energy into over the years. Like my excellent bribery skills when it comes to getting my kids to do things.

Kidding.

Kind of.

Not really.

But there are plenty of areas of my life that are in desperate need of work, and now is really the time to do it. I don’t have anything to distract me, really. All my less than stellar traits are staring me right in the face, and it’s either fix them now or suffer the consequences.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m not changing overnight. But I can do my best to make as much headway as I can, in this intensive middos workshop that I find myself in.

Everything is magnified, for better or worse. And now is the time to take advantage of this priceless opportunity to improve.

BUT ENOUGH OF THAT FOR NOW.

I know that many of us do not have a moment to stop and think (full disclosure: all my kids are on devices right now, that’s how I’m even writing this). And I know others of us have maybe too much time to stop and think. Again, with the “Everything is magnified” feeling of this whole challenge.

We have been keeping to a schedule of learning and downtime here, it seems to be more or less working, thank G-d, but Sundays are a little more unstructured, which, yes, meant a lot more fighting today than usual, so that was hard, but it also meant we had a lot of free time where my oldest created this fabulous video.

The concept is all his, the execution is all his, the jokes are all his. I just did some editing, and he was so excited to see his dream come to life. I’m happy to share it with you. Please, give it a like if you can, it would make his day.

And I hope you’re all well, and grateful that none of his dystopian weather forecasts are our reality, in this definitely-feeling-like-sci-fi reality that we are living in.

Stay safe, stay home, and I can’t wait to hear all the things you’ve done with yourself in your own social distancing experiences.

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Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash