We are not meant to live in isolation. What makes us healthy and whole are the connections we form with one another.  With our families. Our friends. Our colleagues and our community…  The thing we need the most to feel healthy has become harder to get.

After more than 30 years in the field of social work, I know one thing to be true. We do not need to be victims to our situation. We have choices to make, each and every day about how we want to live our lives. How we choose to show up for ourselves and each other.

One of the hardest things about this time for me has been the loss of travel, the opportunity to explore. If you know me, you know I love to travel. Give me a passport and a seat on a plane or in a car and I’m on my way, ready for what comes next. I thought it might be fun to travel, however virtually, around the US and yes, even abroad, to visit with people and hear how they’re doing during this difficult time. Over the next few weeks I’d like to bring you a glimpse of what life is like for our friends and neighbors in other places.

Today we travel to Bangalore, India to meet Smitha.

Welcome Smitha. How are things in Bangalore? I stay in a little apartment for most of the week before driving down over the weekends to visit my parents and sister, who stays close by. Well, that was before all this. Now, I have been mostly staying with my parents in their two-story house in the suburbs of Bangalore. I call it the suburbs, but really, there is no such thing in our city. It's quite hot here now in summer but Bangalore is known to have the best climate in India. Usually, even when the days are hot, the evenings sometimes bring a whiff of rain. I type this now outside my bedroom, which is shaded by a gulmohar tree. Gulmohars are in bloom, creating beautiful pockets of red everywhere. A pair of mynas are busy nesting on the roof outside. Traffic is calmer now in the lockdown, so there seems to be more quiet, and more bird-time. 

How have you been affected by the pandemic personally? We have had a lockdown now for almost two months now. Initially, the first phase put severe restrictions on movement. Over the last 10 days, that has eased. We are allowed to go out, but Bangalore is still a "red zone," so movement is not that free. No trains are running and no buses either. That's set to change from tomorrow. But for now, I haven't thankfully known anyone who has been affected by the virus. 

What has been the hardest thing for you to deal with? The uncertainty of it all. I like control and life right now is just not in control. 

What have you appreciated during this period? The time I am spending with my parents and gratitude for all that I have, the people I love. 

What are you doing to keep yourself emotionally healthy during this time? I work out. That helps. I have been working out from home. I also meditate. I do the Vipassana meditation every day for an hour and although I still feel my mind is a scrambled mess, there are pockets of calm. Just to be in one place without doing anything? That's bliss. 

Last year, I was planning for the Camino at this time of the year. This year, I am left with the understanding that there can be no planning at all. Dealing with the loss of control has been tough, but in a way, it has also been freeing. When we learn to relax and to lean in to what is, there's so much space that opens up. These times have taught me more gratitude than 1000 hours of meditation. We are lucky to be alive. We are lucky to be well. We are blessed to be healthy.

Thanks for inspiring us and for sharing your experience, Smitha.

Let’s broaden the conversation, shall we? Would you like to be featured in our guest interview posts? We want to hear from you! Email me at suzanne@suzannemaggio.com. 

Editors Note: You can read more from Smitha on her blog, Soul Musings. You can find it here.