I asked my friend, Casey, how she was doing with the extended stay-at-home order in Colorado Springs.

“Hanging in there. Trusting God,” she said. “But limbo is a hard place to hang out in.”

Yes, yes, it is.

And that’s what’s wearing on all of us right now: we’re stuck in limbo, waiting for someone to set us free.

The journalist in me had to do just the smallest bit of searching to remember the origin of the word limbo. Get your facts straight, Beth. And no, it has nothing to do with that ridiculous party dance where they keep lowering the long bamboo stick while people bend over backward and try to pass underneath it.

Limbo, in a general sense, is a forgotten or ignored state, place, or situation.

Anybody relate? I would dare say “limbo” aptly describes how most of us feel since the coronavirus mandated that we stay at home and also that we practice socially-appropriate distancing – for our own good and the good, the safety, of others.

I could list in generalities what we’ve lost while battling COVID19. Our comfortable routines replaced with uncertainty and fear. Some of us have lost our jobs. Some of have seen regular school routines upended. Planned graduations disappear. Our “cans” turned into an ever-lengthening list of “can’ts.”

Only you know the specifics of your life right now – the personal limbo you’re living in. You haven’t forgotten your life before all of this. But what you want, what you hope for, certainly seems ignored.

Of course, we know all of these choices, all these hard, right things we’re doing, are necessary if we want to flatten the curve. If we want to beat back this illness and … well, not return to the way things were. That’s not going to happen. The goal is to get through this and become healthy again, as individuals but also as a nation, as a people.

The goal is to recover in so many ways. Physically. Mentally. Emotionally. Financially. Spiritually.

We want freedom from limbo … this state of feeling stuck. Ignored. Overlooked. And yes, freedom from feeling as if we can’t change what’s happening to us.

The truth is, we can change some things.

• We can change our reactions to this life-altering event – Doing so takes intention and anchoring ourselves to truths that will hold us steady.
• We can change our reactions to others – Offer family and friends the benefit of the doubt, rather than assuming the worst about someone’s action or inaction. There are other things going on in people’s lives besides COVID19, and we don’t know what other sorrows or anxieties someone else might be bearing at this time.
• We can change our reactions to ourselves – Let’s accept we’re not perfect and be okay with that reality. Love ourselves anyway, apply a liberal dose of humor and grace, and try again tomorrow.

My friend Casey is right: living in limbo is hard. But just for today, I’m going to try and not let it get the best of me. And then I’ll try again tomorrow. Care to join me?

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