Welcome to the third writing related to this topic. I hope that the message this post brings, will help some of you to handle the current quarantine season.

The last few weeks have been the time which will be recalled for a long time. It is a defining moment in history we will talk about to future generations - our children, grandchildren. For some people it is a very difficult time right now, to others it might be a time of rest. Personally, I know those who work at their workplace/or from home but I also hear from groups of people who complain about having too much free time and cannot stand staying home anymore. We all are different, we all have various approaches to life and friendship. I will share with you my thoughts and points of view on this current situation and some ideas on how could we use our spare time effectively.

It might be difficult to be a friend to others if we struggle ourselves with having strength, joy and peace in our hearts. As a human being we need to take care of our spirit, body, emotions, mind and our soul. If we struggle to carry our burdens then we do not have strength to carry our friends’ problems. This is an unusual time as so many of us are forced to stay home. Some of us are in our own flat or house, possibly with a beautiful garden. At the same time, there are those who rent a flat with others, sharing the same kitchen and bathroom. Their personal life takes place in a small, sometimes very tight room and is filled with all their personal belongings. How can we take care of our friendship, how can we cultivate the relationships with others if we ourselves are now lacking strength, or the time for the things we enjoyed before? Some of you might think, how can we complain for lack of time if we have it in excess during this quarantine season? Well, you might agree with me or not, sometimes we struggle to make good use of time. Time is a gift, which we all own and we all know about, this is nothing new that this gift is particularly precious and so unique. No minute, no second, or hour will EVER come back. We get older every minute, every hour, every year. Maybe this quarantine season is the time to look inside our life? Perhaps, it is the right moment to re-evaluate our life, desires, dreams, goals and values? We cannot turn back time BUT we can have an impact on our future. You might wonder what is the link between all of these thoughts and the main topic of this post, which is friendship. Well, I will try to explain it in the next parts of this post.

I cannot love and respect other people if I cannot learn to take care of myself. Humankind is a thinking being. So, as a human being I could use my mind and start to focus on:

a) myself,

b) my dreams (maybe the ones that have been present since childhood)

c) on the things I enjoyed in the past and had to leave due to various circumstances, which were beyond my control and that I could not change anything about at that time.

Maybe this is the time to be bold enough to have new dreams, goals? Possibly, it could be the season you discover your talents, which you surely have…as you have heard before the sentences: “You are good at this, you are gifted with…”.  Perhaps, you have never heard the above words, if that is you, I want to assure you that YOU ARE GIFTED with particular skills. If we believe in being created perfectly, we can have confidence in being valuable and having a lot of potential.

Let’s not make this ‘stay at home’ season the time which will be remembered by us as the period full of limits, bad things, lack of freedom, wasted hours/ days/ weeks or even months. Let’s make this term the new beginning…let’s be determined to discover new passions in these coming days or weeks, which will become proof that this particular time considered as bad and definitely challenging can still give good fruit to you. Let’s become friends with this woman or girl/ man or boy, you see every single day, and in addition, a few times per day in the mirror reflection. Let’s take care of yourself and believe that you will make it. You will not give up, you will fight for yourself. Let’s believe that when you see again your family and friends, we all will be different, we will be changed for better, ready to share our experience with others. Keen to lift up those who will not take this ‘mirror’ challenge, or who have not had the opportunity to hear about this idea.

Let’s start each day with a grateful attitude for everything which seems to be tough because these difficult situations we go through push us to fight and not give up. Being thankful for all these ‘little’ things we have not remarked before can teach us to hit on the things which have been imperceptible. Let’s have our hearts filled with gratitude for friendships, people and their presence in our life. Let’s be ready to say ‘thank you’ to yourself and others, also to someone who deserves it according to your ideology. I am grateful to Jesus.

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