I heard the phrase ‘count your blessing’ many times in my life but never really took heed of it. I always thought of it as an over-used phrase! But today, a series of events made me believe how important it is to always ‘count your blessings’ because many of us are blessed in one way or another. Even as we navigate through coronavirus pandemic.
No doubt COVID 19 is making everyone anxious. Some have lost their jobs. Some are struggling to work from home while home-schooling toddlers. And some have even lost loved ones.
Additional challenges that migrants face
For migrant communities, there are additional fears and anxiety.
Policymakers, commentators, community groups, and campaigners tend to continually debate about the impact of the border closure on immigration. However, most debates rotate around the imminent economic loss due to international students potentially not returning to Australia or the labour shortage (for the industries that are dependent heavily on work visa holders). The mental health impact of COVID on the migrant communities living in Australia is often forgotten in these debates.
Most migrants understand that the continued border restrictions are necessary to keep the people of Australia safe. Most of these communities would not want any other way but these closures are creating a sense of helplessness in them.
These border closures are creating a level of apprehension about when many of them will be able to see their families again. Some even fear if they will ever see their family members again.
Some of these migrants have ailing family members overseas. Some migrants have families in countries worse hit with COVID. Others may come from countries that do not have the same standards of medical facilities as we have in Australia. Some of their families may even have caught the virus but these people cannot do anything to support them from the distance.
Some of these migrant communities may also not have seen their families for years as they may be busy building a life for themselves in Australia. So, the current situation is causing them to fall into a sense of guilt and despair.
My fears for my family
I am a first-generation migrant and I too worry about my family in Fiji. Fiji has also been badly hit by COVID’s Delta variant. The health system is in Fiji is crippling due to the number of cases being admitted daily.
My Dad is in his late 70’s and is living alone in Fiji. He recently had a quadruple bypass, making him very vulnerable in this current situation. Normally, when my parents got sick my siblings and I would fly to Fiji to take care of them. So, while I am continuing to provide my Dad with financial support I continually worry about how we would be able to support him if he gets sick or needs any physical support.
I am also worried about one of my sisters who is struggling with her circumstances.
Recently, I also became aware of a couple of people including my previous work colleagues and distant family from Fiji who have lost their battle to COVID. Perhaps this is also compounding my fears and making this situation seem a lot more gleam than what it is.
Like all other Melbournian’s this 18-month lockdown is having a detrimental impact on me too. Besides, as a senior manager, I must support my team through this difficult time.
I have found that this continuous fear and anxiety has broken my resilience and I have fallen ill. I have been sick for a few weeks now. While it is just cold (thank God I do not have COVID), I cannot break through this illness.
I tried to reach out to my other siblings but perhaps they are also struggling to manage the current uncertainty so initially, I did not get any response I was looking for. I felt drained. That’s when my husband suggested we go for a walk and sit in the sun.
Just after 30 mins in the sun, I started feeling a lot more upbeat. Perhaps kindness and attention from my husband acted serotonin. Then to my amazement both my sisters called me on phone. Both my sisters live overseas so I guess just hearing the voices of your own family makes a lot of difference!
Posivity creates positivity
Perhaps positivity creates positivity! When your mind is in a positive state you grasp positive messages, as happened to me later afternoon. I was watching a video, when I picked on a statement one of the actors said ‘‘if you look at the word impossible it is actually ‘Ï am possible’ “. These words seemed like a message for me – It is about the perspective! It is how we see things.
Perhaps there is a message in everything we come across in our lives! My mind went over all the events of the day, and it made me feel so grateful for everything I have in life.
I only got married 22 months ago. I surprised everyone by getting married for the first time at age 49. Imagine if I was not married? I would have been living alone throughout these multiple lockdowns.
How lucky we are to have telephones these days. I can talk to my dad every day. I am also grateful to have social media which I can use to keep connected with my siblings.
I am grateful that I can work from home and because of which I still have a job.
Yes, I have been unwell, but it is just a normal cold. I am grateful that I have not been exposed to COVID.
When I started counting all these blessings in my life my perspectives changed, and I started feeling better.
Perhaps there is a good reason why this idiom “count your blessing’ which started as a poem in 1878 by John Earle and later a hymn in 1897 by Johnson Oatman has continued till today. We may not be able to do much for our families but there is still so much we have that we can be grateful for.
Perhaps when we are overwhelmed by the uncertainty caused by this pandemic, when we are in the middle of the multiples losses we are experiencing, and when the news channels no longer have any positive stories to share, we need to find our own. We need to take a moment and think about what we are grateful for.
Even in the worst situation, we have something to be grateful for and when we are at our lowest, we need to remind ourselves about all the blessings in our lives. And, as Kate Wight writes there are many ways we can count our blessings. Pick one that works for you. We just need to stay strong and wait till this pandemic passes us by, whatever tomorrow has for us.
