During this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, even those who still go to work come home, and once home are asked to stay there. The phrase “I’m stuck at home” is all over the internet, radio and television. It is odd that the place where we feel so at home that we call it home has become a place where we feel stuck.

Looked at the way many do, not being able to go out for dinner, entertainment, or just go to the mall or hang out with friends means we are stuck. From the standpoint of the Exuberant Life, the situation is otherwise: I get to be home with all the people in the home and all the things we have in the home. Indeed, because it is Spring, now is a good time to look at all the things we have on our homes.

No, this is not about “spring cleaning.” From an Exuberant perspective there is nothing here that cannot give me joy. Taking the time we have now to go space-by-space through home allows us to touch and see all the things within it. I almost certainly won’t decide to keep everything I touch and see, yet there is a reason all the things here are here and at one time they were things that gave me joy. It’s like going through an old treasure box where more than half the things in it are a surprise.

I will find things that I had lost, stir memories I had long forgotten, and as I decide to part with a thing part of me will re-live how it came to be in my life. Over the course of a few days, there will be more connection with my past and home will be much less cluttered. Doing this with others allows us to know them better and for them to know us better; and we recreate our space in a Joyful manner.

Often, doing a series of small things results in large results. This is one of them. The routines we have of doing things are now broken by the stay-at-home orders. Through entering a process of reconnecting with ourselves and joyfully sharing memories we transform our homes and refresh ourselves. And suddenly, there are possibilities and choices instead of that “stuck” feeling.