There is hope
Can I encourage you?
Listening to the bad news all the time is not good for my own mental health.
Angus Hervey wrote an interesting blog on a site called Future Crunch. In that article he says, “the biggest change happened when I decided to actually start thinking about information as food and make my diet healthier and more diverse. The effect has been transformative. For the last few years I’ve felt less stressed, less anxious, more motivated, and I’m still confident I know what’s happening in the world.”
If you are feeling anxious, which many of us are, change your information diet.
Realising I need to care better for myself, I have taken to turning off all media, not reading the paper and not googling COVID-19. The one thing I have learnt, very quickly, is that there is an enormous amount of misinformation out there, largely untrue. For example, when they give the stats of the number of cases of COVID-19 they don’t tell you how many of those have recovered and are back at work. A large portion are. Most people recover, and quickly.
I have chosen just to listen to the Department of Health, the Department of Education and the Prime Minister. I receive that information via email.
I changed my diet on the weekend and began looking more intently at the good news and as a result I was greatly encouraged. There is hope.
The response from the whole St Paul’s community during this time has been overwhelmingly supportive. I have personally appreciated the wonderful emails parents have sent, thanking the staff and offering words of encouragement.
Well over 40 of our staff volunteered to supervise children of essential workers. I was staggered (shouldn’t be surprised really) at the response. I know that there are many others who would love to help, but their personal circumstances wouldn’t allow for it and that is totally understandable.
Since sending out an email about a Special COVID-19 Financial Assistance Bursary to support families who are particularly affected by the situation, we received donations totalling over $27,000 to support those families! The generosity of others is humbling.
Looking for some more good news, I spoke with one of our sister schools in Japan to see how it is there. Their normal day-to-day life has been shut down, but not for that long. They are past the worst and life is returning to normal. They sent me some videos of them at the shopping mall. This situation will pass, and it will be ok. We don’t hear the positives on our mainstream media.
Finally, our Hope is secure in our God, for He is Good.
