A positive outlook in difficult times


Several people shared this with me. They know me so well!

Anyone else finding life extremely surreal at the moment? I am for sure. I’m contacting my family back home all the time because I’m worried about them and feel so far away when the ridiculousness of it all is that I can’t be in contact with them right now for fear of spreading this horrendous virus. COVID-19 seems to have taken over all our lives completely. The strangest thing for me (after watching the U.K. following Italy, France and Spain into lockdown) is that Japan seems so calm about it all. Too calm for my liking. I have my own opinions as to why but mainly I think it’s being played down due to the Olympics. Hopefully with the postponement of the Olympic games having been decided they will have no reason to pretend life is normal and start taking this all seriously. Much mixed opinions are circulating amongst the expat community here. Some feel we’ve dodged a bullet, some feel we’re not out of the woods yet. It’s true the Japanese are generally not a close-contact people. They don’t shake hands but bow instead. They generally give personal space whilst talking to each other. The firmly stay away if they have a cold etc. Plus the elderly community tend to self-isolate during flu season anyway so I’m assuming that’s what’s happened now. I’m gathering all this information from various sources but having not been here long I’m happy to be corrected! 

Given everything that’s going on I’ve decided to look on the positive side. After leaving our Tokyo trip early (my anxiety was going through the roof) and not knowing what’s happening here I need to see the best side of humanity. I posted on my personal Facebook feed that I was feeling anxious about everything and, above all, exhausted. The trouble with having my kids home is that I can’t have my rest days. I try and have one or two a week and I’m constantly on the go at the moment. I’m happy to do my bit but I’m having trouble keeping going. I don’t think online schooling was designed with a mother with a chronic illness and fatigue issues in mind. But I had lots of lovely messages. So many people supporting me and generally patting me on the back. My lovely husband is working from home alternating days now so he’s said he can help with lunch etc too.

Now with things being odd and social distancing advised or enforced many of us are turning to social media for company. Some of the memes that have been shared are wonderful so I thought I’d share them here. Now just a copyright note that I own none of these photos and have merely seen them on various social media platforms.

This cheered me up enormously. Good to know I’ve been in training.


And this helped with my homeschooling issues:



And with all this mask shortage and hysteria this made me cackle:

One brilliant side of all this is that companies are suddenly sharing stuff for free. One of my favourites is this shared on Instagram by Laura Aston  She’s a knitting designer and I love her designs and follow her even though I don’t knit. Maybe now is the time to try?



Also other places such as museums now sharing online content for free.
Here are a couple of addresses:



Also, it’s good to keep a realistic hold on some parts of life especially when you suffer with panic attacks.


And this is wonderfully motivational 




My kids think Mother Nature having a word with humanity. With dolphins back in the canals of Venice and other examples that Mother Nature can heal itself we are all reminded of a very important fact: we need to look after our world or Mother Nature will put us all in detention...or maybe she has? Whatever the reason for this virus happening now I hope you all stay safe and well and take it seriously.

And of course let us all remember:



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