A Lesson on Resilience from JacX

As you may know, I am in the process of building a chicken coop (see progress photo below). This is one of my two goals during the April quarantine. The other goal is to help as many people as possible which has been progressing as well.

When I’m out in my woodworking shop, the dogs are typically with me. I have two red fox Labradors: a 6-year-old and an 11-month-old.

JacX, our 11-month-old, likes to find things to chew on. Yesterday, it was a piece of scrap wood, which I took away from her. A few minutes later, she found a piece of Styrofoam to chew. I asked her to come and she brought it over to me and without hesitation dropped it in my hand.  After that, she came from the yard with a stick, which she lay down on the patio to chew. I again asked her to bring it to me and I put it out of reach. I then gave her a rawhide and she headed off to chew that. 

I think we can take a lesson from JacX. A lot of us have been confined to our houses. First the shops closed, then the restaurants, and now even the parks are closed. Each time, we had to make a choice to find something else to do with our time. The replacement activities may not be our first choice, but we can look at this as an opportunity to find something new to experience. 

Our lives will go back to some sort of “normal” eventually. But right now, we need to use this time to develop new skills, explore new interests, or embrace those around us.

And if all else fails, we can curl up in the sun and take a nap.