Our perspective is within our control. Ok, let me back up. Here is where, from this day forward, I make a feeble attempt to relate everything I write about to skiing. Skiing, or any of our hobbies and passions provide a great platform to discuss life and how to approach it. Feeling like that’s a stretch? Bear with me!! Doing the things that we love helps us to see the good and find joy. With the quick spread of the Corona virus, our ski season was cut short. We can get bogged down in all the things we can’t do and allow ourselves more and more negative thoughts and down the rabbit hole we go.

And, while it’s an even harder blow every time it snows here in Colorado (a heartfelt thanks, Mother Nature), I’m here to tell you, we have absolute control of what our minds are telling us is true. At Snow Happy, our mission is to find the joy of winter wherever the snow may fall and what great practice that is for life!

I’ll give you an example: Since we are not skiing every weekend, it means we can enjoy time in our own backyard! It means that I can finally build those vegetable garden beds I’ve been wanting for three seasons. It is okay to see the good in bad times – let that sink in…it’s okay to see the good in bad times. In fact, it’s necessary! The only way through it is through it and we get to choose how we react. This is perspective.

Here’s another way to look at it…when we are back on the slopes next season, waiting in a long line, will you be grateful just to be there or will you go back to your pre-Corona virus complaining ways? Think about it! We have an opportunity for future mind shift as we navigate these uncharted waters…er, ski runs. We have so much room to grow through our experience in these unprecedented and challenging times. What kind of person to you want to be we we are on the other side?

The good news is we have power to control our minds. I firmly believe (as we talked a lot about during my first round of the 100 Days of Something) that developing and maintaining healthy habits helps us with perspective. We can commit to things even when times are tough, which can only mean good things for when we return to our new normal.

How do we accomplish this? Here are some tips the Snow Happy family has implemented:

Stay in a daily routine! Get up at your usual time. Take some time to journal and reflect. Set your intentions for the day. Get your movement/exercise in by walking the dog, playing in the yard or doing some yoga with your kids. You can even keep up your ski-bod in the off-season.

Keep up healthy eating habits. Without family obligations outside the home every night, in spite of the limited shopping and sometimes ingredients, I have found getting dinner on the table can happen at a much slower pace. Set a dinner time. We are all working and schooling and playing from home. And, working from home can often mean it’s harder to disconnect and separate the two. Snow Happy Daddy works from home when he’s not travelling. He’s been at home with us for 3 weeks now and we have only eaten together as a family on the weekend! So, I asked him this morning, should we set a dinner time to book end your work day so we can all eat together? He agreed that would be really helpful. We’ll see how it goes tonight at 6:30 when the dinner gong rings!

Stay connected with friends and family via these amazing online tools we have at our finger tips. My kids have actually been picking up the phone to call friends just to talk!! Remember doing that??? Thank goodness for unlimited minutes.

And, finally, take the time to learn something new: coding, a language, art project or home project (also wonderful learning opportunities for the kids!). Even if we’re working a full-time job from home, we all have more time since we’re not on the go.

Small changes in perspective are incredibly powerful. Re-evaluating how we perceive what is going on around us is critical. There is a lot of negativity floating around us with endless access to social media. There is well-founded uncertainty in what our weeks and months ahead will look like. Both of these things can result in a lot of anxiety. Start a routine. Stay healthy. See the good. And STAY HOME!!!

I’ll leave this here for whoever needs to see it: