It was the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. March of 2020 in the epicenter of New York City, nearly everyone near was experiencing either illness, the loss of a loved one, financial instability or some combination of all three. Life felt bleak and uncertain. Would we make it out of this okay?
My son, an essential worker in Georgia was still working and I was concerned for his health and safety and all essential workers on the front lines, the real heroes. I was working from home, my teenage daughter was schooling virtually. Without a doubt, my talks with God increased exponentially during this time. Anxiety on steroids.
And then, I had a thought. Grateful Badass platform hosts a podcast and blog that could reach hundreds, even thousands of people with one click. These media outlets could be used to help keep and maintain my sanity and possibly, help others in the process. We would write daily notes and post them to the blog to inspire and encourage. I recruited my teenage writer to assist me and it was on. We started writing daily notes on Tuesday, March 17th and continued over the course of 100 days into June. We created notes which would remind folks to take time to breathe. Somehow, look around and turn what seems as a negative into a positive. When we started hospitals were full of coronavirus patients. After 75 notes in total, with our last note, cases in the city had decreased tremendously. The first wave it is called. We hope and pray it is the last.
Day 39
“Happy thoughts will be our salvation do not waste your time worrying, when there is much to be spent on hope.”
J. Cameron
Writing daily notes kept me from losing my mind. Gave me something to look forward to in a time and space of bleak days full of fear. These notes, Grateful As Ever Daily Quarantine Notes, we called them, saved my life. Gave me life. It felt good writing and sharing, sharing and writing day after day. Writing daily in a time where all days ran together and somewhat, still do. When the city arrived at better days, life sort of opened back up. But, not quite. People are timid with this newness of life and with that, I had another thought. Why not arrange our notes into a published book to acknowledge and memorialize these historic moments? A book of 75 Daily Quarantine Notes to remind myself and others how we made it through those first 100 days. A reminder that if we have to go through such again, we made it through once and can do it again. Hopefully, once was more than enough.
Grateful As Ever Daily Quarantine Notes: Finding Solace During The Coronavirus Pandemic by Stacey M. Cameron and J. Cameron is available now for pre-order. Here, on the blog or at your favorite book retailer. Visit GratefulAsEverBook.com
We hope the Grateful As Ever Book will be a reminder and a blessing for others as it has been for us.
Love & Gratitude,
~ Stacey Mack
Founder, Grateful Badass, LLC
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