Connecting and Blessing

Courtney here sharing a bit of my isolation story and some ways that you can continue to be refreshed, connected, and lifted up as we practise social distancing. 2019 started off with an ankle injury that ultimately lead to four months of casting, surgery, limited mobility, not being able to drive, and being fairly housebound. As an incredibly social person who prefers to be spending time with friends and family or exploring trails with my dog this was a fairly devastating injury to me. I regularly found myself wrestling with the idea that I was alone. It’s one thing to choose to take it easy for a weekend and practise some rest & relaxation. It’s another thing to be forced to, what felt like, a full stop.

An Isolation Journey

I’ll be honest that this journey had its share of grief as I needed to process how to find joy from within the walls of my own home. Some of the ways I did this was by sinking into hobbies that I now had time to enjoy; reading my stack of books, plowing through puzzles, revisiting crosswords, listening to music, and watching movies. The best gift though that I received during this time was connecting with my loved ones. These beautiful people stepped into my life to help me out and kept me stocked up on groceries and hobby items. Friends, family, and co-workers came alongside me, they listened, shared their stories, sent care packages, reminded me that I wasn’t alone, that these challenges weren’t forever, and allowed me to look beyond my own limitations and frustrations.

Creative Ideas

So while the practise of Social Distancing is intimidating to me I am approaching it as an opportunity to creatively pay forward the love I received in my time of need. I work with The Gift Designers because I believe in our mandate to be a blessing through giving. Let’s celebrate the beauty of connection, be people who desire to lift each other up, and be quick to care for those in need. Share your own ideas, but here are a few things we have seen: A few things we've observed:

• The son visiting his father at the seniors facility, but sitting outside the window in his lawn chair while chatting by phone!
• Shopping for essential groceries and dropping them off.
• Families stopping by seniors homes & doing 'patio visits'.
• Neighbours putting up signs to share messages of hope & joyfulness to those driving & walking by.
• A senior who is feeling a bit shut in herself, spends every evening calling others who she thinks might also feel a bit disconnected.
• Everyone picking up their instruments and going LIVE on social media to share their gift with others.
• Baking for one another.
• Children creating crafts & pictures and having them delivered to a seniors facility.
• Teenagers writing encouraging notes to Seniors!
• Generous folks purchasing gifts from The Gift Designers and having them delivered to their friends, family & business colleagues.
• People sharing their toilet paper!

One way that we are hoping to encourage you to connect and bless is through our Weekly Isolation Care Package Contests being held on Facebook.

Visit us at www.facebook.com/yycgifts to enter all of our contests.

  View our Isolation gift ideas By Clicking This Link