Christmas in Quarantine
The week before Christmas my wife and I were staying at my parent’s house. So, when I came down with Coronavirus on December 18th, it was only a matter of time before they started showing symptoms. Sure enough, by the 20th, we were all feeling terrible. Luckily, our symptoms never got so bad that we needed medical attention, and after a few days we were pretty much back to normal. Unluckily, we still needed to quarantine for two weeks. Which meant we were quarantined over Christmas.
Two weeks of no outside contact; no trips into town; no visits from relatives; no last-minute Christmas shopping. Luckily for us my sister Amy and her husband Walter (who you may recognize from our podcast “Talking with Intention”) lived nearby and were willing to deliver groceries to our front porch.
After Christmas my father pointed out something that I hadn’t thought about. He said that this had been the worst Christmas of his life, but all in all that was a good thing, because it wasn’t that bad. Yes, it was terrible being sick and it was even worse being quarantined, but things easily could have been a lot worse.
Walter said something similar when we were recording an episode of our podcast recently. He pointed out how mild Covid-19 is when compared to some of the other pandemics throughout history. Covid has approximately a 1.7% death rate. The black plague wiped out 30% to 50% of the population of Europe. All things considered we are very lucky that it hasn’t been worse.
So yes, Christmas in Quarantine was terrible, but gratitude is more powerful than bitterness. Choosing to remain grateful for the things you do have, rather than being bitter about the things you lose, Is the first step to making things better. Self-pity is one of the most self-destructive things in the world.
The thing is, self-pity and bitterness can both feel really good sometimes. People like to feel like their bad mood is justified because It gives them an excuse to behave however they want with no regard to the impact they are having on the people around them. And I’ll be honest, sometimes you might have a really good reason to be in a bad mood. Terrible, unfair things happen all the time. But whether it’s justified or not, allowing your bitterness and self-pity to affect your decisions hurts everyone, most of all you. Gratefulness shifts your focus away from your own suffering and onto good. I don’t mean that we should naively pretend that the suffering doesn’t exist. Rather, we need to acknowledge what happened and keep moving forward. You are strong enough to conquer your suffering, you just need to know it. So next time something doesn’t go your way, choose to be grateful regardless. You are always going to move toward the thing you are looking at; focus on the good and move past the bad.
“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.”
- G.K. Chesterton
“I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me."
Philippians 4:10-13
