Find your joy, even in a Pandemic

Yesterday my husband, dog, and I spent a glorious afternoon floating in a canoe on the Buffalo River in Waynesboro, Tennessee. Since the pandemic began, we've avoided our summer canoe ritual mainly due to logistics of the river's transport; we would need the canoe rental company to drive us upriver and load us into canoes. In the past, the transport van would fill with other nature seekers. We did not want to be in close quarters with others, in a car or a plane, lest one of them was asymptomatic but infected with COVID-19.
We waited until the end of the season, confirming the venue was not busy on a Sunday morning, and went for it. I am so glad we did. The driver, masked, was twelve feet away with the window open as we sat alone, also masked, in the very back of the vehicle for the ten-minute drive. We were amply rewarded for our careful adventuring; We did not see any human for five straight hours as we floated along clear water. The autumn leaves fell from above us and danced underwater following the canoe. The sounds of the birds were amplified, and the multitude of sunbathing turtles eyed us with caution.
And during this "moving meditation," we talked. As we always do, it's our time to connect with each other. There is no cellular service on the river. No Twitter. No Facebook. No news updates. In this hyperpolitical and stressful year, my husband and I reminisced of happy times. We spoke of our travels and our loved ones. We made plans. We joked with one another. We were grateful.
Eventually, we had to leave our river bubble. The phone beeped with incoming text messages. The world had continued its 24-hour news cycle. But it seemed more manageable and less pressing. My prescription to all of you, especially the multitude feeling overwhelmed by the stress of the times- bad news does abound everywhere- is to take some time to "bubble" for yourself. Find your nature and disconnect. It might do you a world of wonder. It did for me.