Laughter is the Best Medicine

 Too many people are being consumed by the bad news being shown in the media about the Coronavirus and it's causing mass hysteria, waves of fear and full on panic.

Schools are closing, Church meetings and activities are canceled, events postponed, travel restricted, temples are stopping proxy work and large gatherings completely abandoned. President Trump has declared a state of national emergency.

I personally don't watch the news, but I can't give up the social media because in my opinion, laughing is the best medicine and some of the COVID-19 memes are hilarious!

I get that it's serious and that it's affecting lots of people, but also the way that people are turning grocery stores into zones of a zombie apocalyptic nature are ridiculous. That will be more damaging than the virus itself.

But maybe it will be a wake up call for all of us that weren't prepared as well as we should have been when the Prophets have been warning us for years. Luckily Kyle and I had our life lesson on preparedness when he lost his job back in 2013. We learned why we've been taught to have savings and why it's wise to have provisions stored and why we should live within our means. So luckily we applied those lessons to our life to the point that now we don't need to add to the panic because we have prepared our family.

The life lesson I'm taking away this time though is that I need to be more flexible with my plans or just stop trying to plan fun things altogether!

2009 when my family planned a cruise it was canceled because of the Swine Flu (H1N1). I still went into the MTC a few months later and we weren't allowed to shake any hands while we were there and the bottom floor of our building was the quarantine for those that had swine flu.

But we survived.

The next time Kyle and I booked a cruise he lost his job, luckily he got another one, but he was starting the week of our cruise and couldn't go with me anymore.

2016 we booked another cruise. This time I wasn't allowed to get off of the ship because of ZIKA, but I survived that too.

It's not just the cruises I have bad luck with though, it's the girls trips too. When we bought tickets to Hocus Pocus night it was canceled because the movie wouldn't play, I planned Lagoon and there was a rainstorm that day, then I planned an epic trip to Idaho for TOFW and it's now been canceled for the Coronavirus.

 But ya know what, I have no doubt we'll survive this too. There's just always going to be something. That's life.

I'm just a planner, I like going and doing, so the hardest part of this world epidemic for me is that all the plans I had aren't happening anymore. I have nothing to look forward to. But I also know that it won't last forever.

And it reminds me of a instagram post I saw about Restoration. How much we all want everything lost to be restored. Lost plans, lost experiences, lost security. All the sad we're experiencing right now will be made right because our God is a God of restoration. This huge disruption to our lives is a reason to grieve, but "what a miracle it is that all losses will be compensated for somehow." And even during our trials we can still feel hope and peace.

So let life go on. Don't let fear stop you from experiencing happiness and living life.

It is what it is. There is nothing we can do about it, except know that everything will work out in the end. We can't know the good without the bad. All we should be focusing on is what is inside of our control.

Look for the Good.

 Like eating homemade pie on Pi day.