SOS

March 30, 2020

SOS/ˌesōˈes/noun

1. an international code signal of extreme distress, used especially by ships at sea.
2. an urgent appeal for help.

Did you know these three letters don’t actually stand for anything (according to a Mental Floss article)? But if you see and/or hear “SOS,” you immediately know someone is need of dire assistance. It’s one of those little nuggets that somehow has gotten plugged into our brains, and no one is really certain of the actual origin, it just “is what it is.”

In a time when social distancing is the “norm” (wow, that feels so surreal to type), we are missing out on all kinds of cues. On my jog this morning, I smile and give the neighborly wave to those passing by…sometimes, there’s the quick trite exchange: How are you? Good, you? All good. With all that is going on in the world, it’s hard to show your hand in these brief chats.

I want to hug you, but I can’t.

I want to put my hand on your shoulder and ask, “how are things really going?”

I want to tell you, please pray from my dear friend who suddenly lost his job.

I want you to know I don’t have it all together.

I want us to go back to when things weren’t so uncertain.

I feel like I am in a perpetually looping Rihanna song:

“S.O.S., please someone help me
It’s not healthy for me to feel this
Y.O.U. are making this hard
I can’t take it, see it don’t feel right”

Except this isn’t about being lovesick over a boy, it’s feeling heart wrecked about what this social distancing is doing to my kids who desperately miss their friends (and shockingly going to a physical school). It’s seeing the desperation in my community as news feed after news feed pleads, “where can I find eggs, flour, or paper towels?” It’s hearing the unspoken aching in texting my loved ones outside of our four walls, “love and miss you.”

SOS

I keep feeling an urge to write, but if I’m being real, I’m not sure what I have to offer. I certainly do not have the answers. I don’t want to come across as being a princess on a pedestal, completely oblivious and immune to what’s happening. But what I desperately want to do is help. I am a servant at heart, and serving is one of my love languages. It’s in this vein that I share something that has been bouncing around in my head for a few days now…

It started after seeing a post about “chalk you walk,” offering an encouraging message written or drawn on your driveway. I joked and said, mine would read “spread joy not germs,” followed by #WashYourHands underneath. Over the last week, I kept seeing one of those “Hello my name is” labels in my head that had “I’m new” written in the blank space. This whole experience is “new” for all of us! We ought to be doling out grace by the bucketful right now! Positivity seems to have taken a backseat to fear and divisiveness. It makes me sad, hurts my heart, and makes me want to cry.

SOS. Extreme distress. Urgent appeal for help.

But what if we applied this theory by Wayne Dyer instead?

“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.”

What if, when we felt ourselves in extreme distress, in need of urgent help, we hailed a different SOS?

If we dug deep, and found something POSITIVE in our current situation.

If instead of flaring up, we took a breath and offered GRACE.

If we simply chose to count it all JOY, no matter the circumstances.

This simple shift in how we choose to operate would make a monumental change in not just our lives within our own four walls but our communities and beyond (I sounded like Buzz Lightyear for a moment)! While I know thinking must seem a bit naive, I cannot get it out of my head. Our world has been turned upside down by this virus, and there is little we can do about it (other than social distancing and thoroughly washing our hands). However, we can change the way we look at things and how we allow things to impact us. This is a life hack that will serve us well after COVID-19 is a thing of the past!

Spread positivity. Offer grace. Share joy.

We will get through this, friends.

We will get together socially again.

And I pray, when we do, we will all be better human beings.