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If we are honest with ourselves, we can all agree that finding the silver lining in incredibly challenging situations is nothing short of complicated. The past three years have presented us battle after battle, and moving forward with optimism, let alone positive lessons learned, is not for the faint of heart. I think it’s also fair to say that all of us have experienced changes in our relationships during the pandemic.
Marriages, romantic relationships, friendships, parent-child relationships, and no bond were off-limits for the enemy to attack. The external forces imposed upon us by the power-hungry oligarchs created everything from physically distancing us from those we love to dehumanizing us by covering our faces and cloaking us in shame as we avoided eye contact and conversation.
I pride myself on being a glass-half-full kind of person, and I feel incredibly blessed to have had Covid help me look inward and assess some of my most important relationships. The blatant abuse tactics like gaslighting, manipulations, threats, and coercion, being used by our government, mainstream media, and medical systems were the catalysts to helping me see that the exact same tactics were being used in my personal relationship.
The emotional warfare plaguing my home was an exact mirror to the outside world, and I had to ask myself how I could stand so firm against one, not the other. By God’s grace, I could end my engagement and start my healing journey. While ending this relationship was my choice, I can’t say the same for them all. I had numerous friendships come to a screeching halt as a result of my position surrounding Covid.
While the sting and sadness of possibly never talking to someone again exist at first, it slowly fades, and the realization sets in that perhaps this was the natural course for this relationship. Moral and ethical misalignments often reveal themselves in times of trial, which was the trial of our lifetime.
From all of the changes to my relationships through Covid, I could look at what I truly needed in people I invest in. I reassessed my core values, made my list of requirements, and had honest conversations about being content with letting people go if the relationship is no longer beneficial.
My biggest takeaway from those months of evaluation is that I need to be surrounded by warriors. I need parents and friends around me who stand on a firm foundation of doing what’s right no matter how uncomfortable it may feel. I need people who will challenge the largest of systems and be willing to do anything and everything in their power to keep our children safe.
As a result of this new perspective, my circle became very small. I also had the unfortunate realization that too many parents are more worried about what people will say or their kids not being popular than they are about fighting the good fight. Priorities seem to be askew, and we are missing the opportunity to be so bold in our convictions that our children see our efforts and fully understand the dark forces we are working to save them from.
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