*C in the A-Z Writing Challenge I’m doing in September

Today I celebrate connection. In order to do that, I’ll start with the converse. Is that isolation? I am assuming so.

Isolation is a state I often find myself in as a person with a long term chronic health condition. I live with my husband but his job is almost all consuming and thus I am often alone. This in itself does not bother me as I am happy with my own space and company. However, during the tricky times when my health problems flare and I am unable to find the internal resources to support myself through, I could really use a hand.

Long before our world closed down, I frequently felt a sense of isolation settle over me like a slightly scratchy crocheted blanket. When this occurred I didn’t reach out. Why, you might ask yourself, surely if I needed help I should just ask?

It’s never that simple. Friends who I might call upon have their own lives, families, jobs, commitments. I didn’t wish to interrupt that. Family who I might call upon did enough already and I find myself reluctant to burden them with my darker moments. By nature I am also a woman who is independent and slightly allergic to asking for help. That’s a flaw I am working on. No, no. I’m fine, really.

What did the lockdown give to me? It gave me people with time on their hands. It gave me people who like me were stuck at home, isolated and craving company. It gave me the power to reach out!

I started a group for no reason other than to connect, a weekly Tea @ 3 meet up. Every Friday at 3pm I’d host a Zoom call for anyone that wanted to bob in and enjoy a cuppa and a chat. This has lasted throughout the lockdown and beyond. I asked the small group last week if they wanted to meet less. They were happy they said, they wanted to continue if I did. I do, so it will.

I tried to rely less on Facebook but as always it is an established connector of people. I joined a few new groups and found I interacted more in existing ones, particularly those set up to offer support, as much as a supporter as a requester of support.

I joined a 21 Day Meditation Challenge and from that an active and uplifting group called Miracle Membership. I found myself making pacts with friends to meditate regularly and to share our experiences with one another for encouragement and accountability.

I signed up for the Hay House Writers Challenge, a seven day writing workshop for anyone with an interest in writing. It was fascinating and one of the attendees created up a follow up group on FB where tips and further challenges are offered. One such is an ongoing A-Z Daily Writing Challenge for September, of which this is C, on my theme of Fragments of My Mind.

The founder of the Dovecote Community, a group set up to support women who are childless but not by choice, has set up a mentorship programme on which I enrolled. Incorporating emotional support using journalling, meditating and EFT, this has brought me face to face with things I believed I had dealt with but watching them arise again, I clearly haven’t.

Speaking of EFT, I’m in a wonderful collective of tappers set up by a conscious creator called Kate Marillat. Within that I am a member of a soul circle, a small group of 5 from the UK and Australia, who get together monthly to tap, share our challenges and achievements and set goals for the next month. During lockdown we met at one point weekly over Zoom and found that incredibly helpful. We are also there for one another between meetings and although still a touch reluctant I am trying to wriggle out of my comfort zone and raise my hand if I need help. They are truly special.

Then there’s the friends I met through PSYCH-K®, some of whom are standing up and shouting loud for what they believe in, some of whom are travelling vast journeys not unlike my own, all collaborating in powerful, passionate ways. We are changing ourselves and the world, one ripple at a time.

My friends and I have become closer than ever. What’s App has been another essential app and my discovery of voice messages a revelation! Who doesn’t love a ten minute waffle about nothing at all that you can then bombard your nearest and dearest with 🙂 They tell me they love it! It takes me back to the days of Animal Magic and Willo the Wisp, when for some reason I wanted to be a voice over artist. I now create my own little narrations and enjoy every moment.

So why Cornucopia you ask? Oh yes, I’d forgotten that. Cornucopia is by definition an abundant supply of good things of a specified kind. The cornucopia of connections that I have enjoyed over the last few months has more than maintained my buoyancy, it has launched me beyond what I imagined was possible.

For this, I am truly grateful and I promise to do my best to weave these abundant connections further.