Look Up while on Lockdown

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With the majority of us sheltering in place and social distancing to help us all combat Covid-19, we are essentially on lockdown. Families and friends are adapting to a new way to virtually gather for a meal or celebrate by creating a drive-by party. The traditional way to instruct in-person is forced to pause. Now, students and teachers are continuing to learn via online classrooms and homeschooling. In fact, many studying in 2020 have to find other ways to research and complete assigned projects. This is where a personal anecdote comes in.

Miami JTO Brace = Lockdown

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This week, I was contacted by a physical therapy student in New York who is enrolled in an orthotics class. He said that his professor had assigned him to research patients who have used the Miami JTO brace for rehabilitation. For those of you that don’t know my story, I spent six months in a Miami JTO, a full back, torso, and neck brace, to recover from a freak accident. In this chapter in my life, I was on lockdown: unable to travel, work, or shower. My life was forced to pause. However, I quickly learned if I was to recover, I needed to embrace the brace. I needed to find the upside and celebrate the little things/moments. Read full backstory in When All Balls Drop.

Creation of Look Up

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Regardless if you are at home or at your essential business job, you may feel a bit overwhelmed by the lockdown and all the changes that come along with it. That’s normal.  I’m feeling it too. I’m not a Pollyanna nor some super shero. However, I have a tool that helped me through lockdown and subsequent obstacles. While under my forced pause, I created the Look Up Mantra. By employing the two powerful words Look Up, you too can quickly reframe the pandemic-induced anxiety. Look Up reminds us all to 1) Be in the moment, appreciating the beauty around us as well as hazards 2) Find the upside because every wound, hurdle, or hiccup turns into wisdom.

Time for a Good Listen “The Curve”

The_Curve_by_Nick_Shattuck

Years ago, I was introduced to artist Nick Shattuck by his mother who traveled with me to Cuba. Coincidentally, she graduated from the same high school as I did. Yeh, I know; what are the chances of running into someone from small-town Wisconsin in Havana, Cuba! Regardless, I have been following Nick and his music ever since. Recently, while under quarantine, he released, “The Curve.” I think it is a wonderful way to Look Up through music. Enjoy it!

Here’s to looking up while flattening the curve!

Blog, Inspiration
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  1. Lorna Treptow
    Hi Heidi. Good post. Appreciated seeing you in the neck brace and certainly understand comparing that unpleasant experience w/covid isolation. Am definitely picking up w/the arrival of Spring. Will be enjoying crab apple blossoms galore rt outside my porch windows-my favorite view from my home. I am doing OK. Not getting nearly as much done as I had hoped. It's a matter of mustering energy. I have no excuse except perhaps laziness. Anyway, gotta get off my duff and get cranking. This isolation won't last forever. Hope you and your dad are doing well. I watched a travel program on public tv about Joseph Barclay who went to Havana in the late 1800's. A wealthy man, he developed 32 blocks in Havana and built a huge home, still standing but empty and falling into disrepair. By the early 1900's, he was worth $4 mil. The gov seized most of his wealth and his home. He died at 69 in 1932, still attempting to get his home back. If you don't already know of him, you may find it interesting to read about him and visit his home. Keep distancing and take care.
    Reply
    May 3, 2020

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