Hi Daily Feelers, 

It’s an interesting time to be a blogger. Don’t you think? I am on Day 37 of quarantine. If your in a similar boat, I think we’ve just hit a new  “enlightenment phase”. We are starting to get a hang of this online learning thing. I’ve snuck out to take a few long drives here and there, but mostly I’ve spent the last month locked down. I haven’t seen anyone. I have avoided FaceTime chats because my “power suit” these days is a fuzzy bathrobe. I have grey roots. I could go on, but you get the point. 

Little Reminder…

Last time I wrote for our blog, I had started a new job as a Behavior Therapist. I thought it was so cool. Something different. I loved it! Then 3 weeks in, pandemic. Anddddd…not working. You can imagine my immediate panic. However, about the same time, a friend called and needed help on a tv special about Covid-19. Was I free? Lol ummm well, yes. Yes I am. 

And so the very career I stepped away from a few months back because it was too much time away from the home, was now the very thing that fit into my current schedule perfectly. Sureeeeee, let’s make content about kids, parents, and viruses. I’m down. 

I don’t tell you this to be obnoxious. I know I am blessed to have work from home when half of us are now out of work in LA County. To be transparent, I’ve been through some sad times right before this pandemic so this little victory for me was huge and came with all kinds of feelings. I am home. I am thankful to be employed. But I’m still very much in mourning.  Like many, you plan/work for something exciting like prom, graduation, vacation, then BAM…not today people. It’s happened to all of us. I am just sharing with you guys the irony of how my family is getting from one day to the next. It’s been an Alanis Morissette song for sure.  

My neighbor told me today (from 6ft away) something that really made me smile. I asked how she’s remaining calm with 4 kids in a 3 bedroom house?! She pointed out a book called Reflective Parenting. She said it talks about finding joy in as many moments as you can everyday. She says that helps to feed our hope for a better future and inspire everyone to improvise and adapt to changes instead of fighting the inevitable. My mind was blown. She then reminded me that internal suffering is a form of self reflection. We choose how long we need to suffer until we can accept what is and elevate to a higher level of spirituality. How did she know that’s where my thoughts were this morning?!  It was like Devine Intervention. She was talking with me about some of my biggest concerns and all I told her was I’ve been really sad since my family members passed. Sooooooo, guess what’s coming from Amazon and will then sit outside for 24hrs until I open it and dive in?! Oh yea, I want to know more. Most importantly, I want to feel hopeful in these trying and ever changing times. I’ll tell you all about the book in my next blog.

What I am trying to say is that I hope we take this time to love our families first and foremost, but I hope that grace makes its way to each of us in some form; whether it’s a hug from your son instead of his usual back talk; or maybe just a day that everything runs smoothly with your work from home gig, I just hope it fuels your soul even just a bit.

I hope you have someone you aren’t scared to ask for help. Maybe a neighbor can make you a mask so you can go to work? If you need childcare, I hope someone close by will step up and help you for a few hours and ask for nothing in return. Or if you are solo, talk to the stars like I do. I do it all the time. I like to think my dad, my grandma, my godfather, and all the others I’ve lost lately are sitting around in the clouds with angel wings playing cards, listening to the eagles; just waiting until they hear my voice. Maybe I’m just talking to balls of gas in space, but either way, it’s peaceful. It’s quiet. It’s a miracle to say the least. 

I hope we see beyond titles and social classes to help one another; even those you don’t know, don’t like, or just don’t get. Why? Darwin has proven that both humanity and animals have only survived until today because of collaboration and innovation. I hate to be cliche, but seize the day, hunker down, follow safety guidelines to help it safe for everyone to go back into society. This has to be a gradual process so we ensure don’t make huge mistakes in reopening our country.

Most of all, I hope our children emerge from their homes with a sense of calmness. I hope we have found more ways to work together and bond instead of argue and compete. I hope kids are inspired to go back to school. I hope they now see it as the gift it is and cherish their teacher’s devotion to their education. I hope their school once again feels like a place where they are loved and inspired. 

Perhaps being a hopeful person can be seen as naive or overly optimistic at times,  but that’s fine by me. It feels better to think this way when I look at my crowded calendar and I’m not even leaving my house. I’d rather make the best of this situation. I want to believe I can add value and growth to something in our life if I just keep trying. Don’t get me wrong, Ive cried like a baby a lot lately over ridiculous, random things. I’ve truly questioned  if I’ve tipped the cray cray meter a tad too far….but then I breathe. I self medicate if I must #noshame then I keep trying. 

Hope gives us something to live for. It inspires us to believe each of us are unique and capable to some degree. We are not all in the same boat. We are all in the same storm. If someone near you is drowning, I hope you’d try to throw them a life line if you happen to have one handy. You see, when hard times come, hope is the thing that pulls us away from the edge. Hope can come from a stranger, family, friends, your kids. It’s unseen, but ever so present. And if someone has even a sprinkle of hope still inside them, they will fight to live. My godfather taught me that. He battled cancer until his last breathe. He hoped for a cure and even though that wasn’t his fate, his legacy is still one of optimism and inspiration. 

I hope we don’t forget how hard these times truly have been. I hope we all get enough time to self reflect, put down the excess baggage we’ve carried far too long, do some new game planning, strategizing, collaborating, improvising …whatever you got to do. But don’t tell yourself the lie that your life isn’t full of blessings. We all have something good in us we can give back to humanity and our environment. Now is the best time to step in. Try to remain optimistic as we move forward. Find beauty in nature that’s blooming like crazy right now. Look at the sky that’s so much clearer without all the cars and the noise. Take whatever small moment comes your way to enjoy this planet we all share and all need. We only get one and we know now Mother Nature has no intention of letting us ruin it without a fight. We might want to find a better way to co-exist pronto. Living in fear is not the way. Living with hope, we stand a chance of finding a real solution that works for everything and everyone on this planet. No time like the present to get on it. 

Be safe. Be smart. Be blessed. 


 JB McCann has worked in “The Biz” for almost a decade, yet she’s somehow managed to keep her feet firmly on the ground. Her altruistic spirit aims to evoke your Inner Phoenix and encourage readers to take the difficult leaps in life, so you can continue to grow.

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