As the snow is starting to melt, and restrictions are slowly lifted – some may find that the air is starting to fill with something that has been waivering lately.
Hope.
Winters tend to be long and dark. Warmed briefly by the Christmas season only to be dragged out for months with the lack of day light and the cold and snow.
Add a pandemic into the mix and hope can be all but a fleeting memory.
Almost a year ago, when we were just about to step foot in these ‘unprecedented times’, I’m sure none of us could imagine the shift we would all be experiencing.
How one morning we would wake up and our whole world would change.
The way we worked, shopped, went to school, lived and spent time with others. In a blink of an eye, everything was different again.
Our priorities and lives have not been the same this past year.
We have missed family, friends, opportunities, events, holidays.
Through these darker times there has been light however.
Not all change has been bad.
We have adapted and become more resilient.
We have evolved and found new purpose.
Our Sentinel family has grown and our direction has shifted to help where we are needed most.
Humans have dug deep and found a new sense of community. New ways to give, share, and help those less fortunate.
We have evolved family gatherings and have taken things online.
Families that are further apart have been reunited due to the shift towards virtual gatherings.
Perspective and needs have changed.
For the most part, we’ve learned we can live with a lot less than we thought we needed.
But for as hopeful and as optimistic as we’ve tried to become, the task gets harder as the days drag on and the cold lingers.
However, winters days are numbered and spring is coming.
As the days slowly start to get longer once again and we can enjoy the changing in the weather, that feeling of hope is creeping back in.
And its not just the weather that is bringing the feeling of hope and change – as lockdown measures are slowly once again starting to lift again, even if only temporarily, that sense of ‘normal’ is coming back.
There is a vaccination on the horizon and even if the roll out plan may not be as quick as we’d like – there is hope.
Despite this ever changing virus, a vaccination brings hope that there is a light at the end of this tunnel.
With every person vaccinated, we are one step closer to reaching our goal of getting back to the world we remember just one short year ago.
Despite the slow pace in some places that things seem to be moving at, with the arrival of spring, we have the sunshine and warmer weather to help move things along.
With the virus and the winter at times making us feel like prisoners in our own homes, we know that we’ve stood this test of time and have proved ourselves to be resilient.
We know that even thought it will be some time before this is just another passage in the history books, we have the warmer weather and the sunshine to help soften the blow and brighten our days.
Regardless of what side of the fence you are on when it comes to all of this – one thing we can almost all stand behind is the feeling we feel on a warm bright sunny day.
A feeling I’m sure will only be beaten by that same day and an announcement of all of this being in the past. And that day will come.
We will make it through all of this.
And in the meantime, we have the dawning of a new spring, and new found hope to help get us through.
Guest Blogger Rayna Davies
Rayna Davies is a graduate and practitioner of Business Management. She has developed an expertise in blogging, covering subjects like travel, world events and security. Having grown up with a father who has developed an expertise in Physical Security and Executive Protection in the RCMP and two major corporations, she has personally observed and experienced many security details. These experiences have included personally meeting HM Queen Elizabeth, Prime Minister Jean Chretien and many celebrities. She presently assists Sentinel Security in Executive Protection workshops and guest blogging and also assists Gloprosec Preventative Services in Intelligence gathering and Business Administration. Her passions include World travel, having visited every continent.