I Bought A Ukulele

Friends, I bought a ukulele. You might say, “Alycia, I didn’t know you played the ukulele.” Well, guess what? I don’t. But I could. This quarantine has me thinking I might learn a new skill. It has me thumbing through the books piled up on my bedside table and on the shelves in my office that have yet to be read. It has me turning down the corners of pages in cookbooks, imagining all the recipes I could try out now that we are eating all our meals at home. I has me visualizing myself mastering yoga poses which have to this point been out of my undisciplined reach.

What does the quarantine have you longing to do? Have you always wanted to learn another language? Plant a spring garden? Reconnect with a friend or loved one you haven’t talked to in a while? Start a meditation practice? Notice what’s coming up for you. Is it a feeling of ease and curiosity to use this pause in ways that delight and enliven you? Or is it a feeling of pressure, the all-too-familiar sense of not doing enough?

More important than any book or task or skill, right now the most important thing you can do for yourself is be gentle. This time is challenging and we are all doing the best we can. Know today that you are enough and whether you go for that run or bake that amazing cake, or you just manage to put on clean yoga pants before noon, it’s all ok.

Now I’m going to go practice my ukulele.