Covid Part 6: How about some Social Media Distancing?

Update: We have now been ordered to “Shelter in place” - to stay home unless purchasing necessities for 6 WHOLE WEEKS.

The better part of our spring, the last of our school year. No finality to thing, just being home. Together.

The week before all of this, I took 8 days off Instagram. I do this every month, once a month - I’ll go dark for 7 or 8 days whenever I feel the nudge from the Holy Spirit “It’s time.” I do it unannounced. It feels good and it a healthy rhythm for me.

This time, it just so happened to be the week everything escalated. And I was just fine as the world got a little panicked.

But then I signed back on, and it was Covid-19 this and Covid-19 that and hilarious  memes and deep thoughts and “buy my thing got cancelled!” and “now’s your time” and “rest and don’t do anything” and “clean out your house” and “get in shape at home” all these different messages flying at my eyes and I didn’t know how to sort it all out. 

THEN I went to the grocery store and literally saw no meat, no bread, hardly any chips, and two people wearing face masks and gloves. I felt this sense of scarcity - I needed to grab it all while I could. 

The social media paired with the grocery trip and and difficult text from a friend made my anxiety skyrocket. It wasn’t one thing or the other - it was all the things. But I FELT it. 

Then, I happened to get on an Instagram live by Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church and he talked about Faith and Fear and how Faith and Fear are both products of our FOCUS.

BOOM.

What had I been focusing on for 8 days? My home, the Lord, my family, myself, my work. Then it shifted, and in one day, my focus was on this world crisis and a lot of other peoples problems and it all felt so heavy. 

I’m here to tell you, you don’t have control of a lot of things. But you can turn off your little app. You can quit instagram or facebook for a while. The world keeps going, I promise, but your anxiety doesn’t have to. Because it does contribute, and I find it so refreshing to take off 1 week from social media every month.

Does my “presence” fail? Sure. Does it hurt my “work” because I’m not “consistent?” Probably, but I haven’t been super consistent in months and I don’t really care any more. I’m learning my brain and my life at home are way more important to me than the social media game.

I encourage you to try it. Be uncomfortable and say goodbye for a week and see what happens. 

PS. I am in no way an instagram expert and have no experience in “how to grow your following” other than showing up and sharing my heart. It might hurt your insta strategy, but I’m after your heart. I don’t care quite as much about that other stuff. :) 

Covid Part 5: My children have no idea.

They are 4, 2 and 1. We tried to explain to the 4 year old what the Coronavirus is, and she just looks at us confused. We say it’s like the flu, and we’re staying safe so no one else gets sick. And she usually responds by asking a question about the food she’s eating or she makes a silly face.

They are oblivious, and I am honestly real thankful. I’m thankful I can provide them a home that is safe and free of worry. That right now her biggest concern is whether or not she’ll have ice cream after dinner.

And then I think about our good God, who cares so deeply for us. We are his precious kids. We don’t have to worry like we do. He’s our Dad. He’s taking care of us, looking out for us, providing for us. Just as I’ve stocked our freezer with as much as I could grab at the grocery store and they never question whether or not they are going to eat, God has storehouses of provision for us - in our work, our relationships, in our literal pantries. We can lay down and sleep hard at night just like my kids do without worry. He’s got it all covered.

Lord give me the faith like my kiddos, their care free love and trust in a world that has everything taken care of, because we are your kiddos, and you are the best Dad we could imagine.

Covid Part 4: Economic books will, from now on, have an entire section on the Covid 19 crisis.

That’s insane. We are living in this thing. Right now. The effect this mandatory cancellation of events and closing of schools is having isn’t something we’ve ever seen before. And it’s not just the US : this is a global economic crisis. It’s everywhere. The same thing is happening all over the place. It’s bananas.

Will and I keep processing things in our discussions before the kids go to bed. The stock market is has plummeted, dear friends are being forced to shut their businesses and fire people (which is the absolute worst thing as a business owner), mamas I know who depend on school and are working from home are now full time care givers and trying to run their businesses. It is affecting everyones money in one way or another.  It’s wild. 

And who is to say that all of this isn’t worth doing? The value of human life far surpasses the health of global economics, and I think civil society is doing a pretty great job so far tolerating all these changes. But there will be other consequences of all this down the road as the story continues to be told. And we just have to wait and see. No one really knows what will unfold.

I don’t have any smart financial things to say about this other than, I hope we take the time to learn lessons from it. This will be extremely costly and damaging to our economy, and the rampant fear is going to keep people from going out and spending their normal dollars once the shelter in place mandates pass. We have a long road ahead of us, I think.

BUT. We will continue to wait, continue to trust our God who is still in control, and continue to look to Him as our Provider.

And PS, this is a really, really great time to invest your money! The stock market is on sale, and it will come back up again one day. Just sayin’. If you’re not the investing-type, now is your time.