The Darker The Night The Brighter The Stars

What a peculiar couple of weeks it’s been... It feels like a life time ago that we were all going out and about, shopping, eating out, going on various trips out and spending time with friends and family at our leisure. When in reality, it’s only actually been a handful of weeks that restrictions have been in place here in the UK.

I know a lot of people, myself included are now feeling rather anxious, and even a little bit trapped from being confined to our homes for most of the time. I know I certainly had a wobble earlier in the week, when I received a phone call from our local registry office to inform that our wedding sadly needed to be cancelled. We had planned on doing our wedding in two parts, the ‘pretty’ side in Tennessee, America, and then a quick ceremony in the registry office here at home for a legal marriage. With the legal side cancelled and the rest of it teetering on the edge of going the same way I was feeling very down, as I’m sure you can imagine.

There’s no doubt in my mind that we aren’t the only ones who have lost something to this horrible virus, I know of two other couples who have had weddings cancelled, many cancelled holidays, lost jobs and many people will have lost loved ones too. Heck, even those who haven’t experienced any of those things are restricted, and probably not feeling their best either. Things are hard at the moment, but we’re all going through the same thing, we’re all in this together.

Whilst unable to sleep the other night, I was up mindlessly scrolling through my Pinterest and came across a quote that resonated with me;

“The darker the night the brighter the stars”  

If ever there was a dark night it’s now, and it’s likely that we have a little way to go before the sun comes up. Until that point though, lets focus on the stars, those little pockets of positivity that are still here.

My wedding might be cancelled but we’re still getting married, just maybe not when we originally planned to. We are currently on a waiting list for the first available slot for our legal wedding, and everyone involved in the American side of the wedding is being absolutely fantastic. The venue, photographer, accommodation… everyone, are helping us move our wedding day, and they have all waived re-scheduling fees. It’ll take a little work and coordination, but after that we can go back to just looking forward to our special day. We just have a little more time to be excited that we originally thought.

A lot of friends have been absolutely fantastic too. Given that I am high risk Mike and I are hesitant to leave the house unless we absolutely have to. There are a few people within our friend group who have been life savers, and got various bits of shopping for us where we haven’t been able to get food deliveries sent. My lovely sister in law even threw in some of my favourite chocolates last time she popped round, ‘just because’. She was unquestionably one of my bright stars that day – especially as she also replenished our dwindling supply of loo roll!

Those bright little stars to focus on can be absolutely anything you want. Heck, one of mine this morning was that a game I’ve been eyeing up on Steam is now on sale, so I’ve treated myself to it. I now get to look forward to a brand new game when I finish my working day, I might even indulge in some of that chocolate I mentioned too. Your stars can be as big or as little as you like, just make sure you remember to focus more on your stars, and less on the night.

What are your bright stars at the moment?