{"id":1686,"date":"2025-03-27T16:00:48","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T20:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/?p=1686"},"modified":"2025-03-27T16:00:48","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T20:00:48","slug":"stay-the-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/?p=1686","title":{"rendered":"Stay the Course"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dearest Readers,<\/p>\n

As I write this letter, the sun is shining brightly on the snow in the park across the street and a big elm is casting deep blue shadows on the shimmering white. The sky is a much paler blue, a powder blue, like a young man\u2019s prom tux in the disco era. It\u2019s a gorgeous March day.<\/p>\n

With the world the way it is right now, turning my focus to steadfast things like sun, snow, wind and skies, is a way to stay grounded. The sun shines faithfully, the snow falls predictably, the wind blows steadily, the sky is ever-present. Nature stays the course.<\/p>\n

These days, \u201cstaying the course\u201d is a good practice. It\u2019s straightforward, constructive and do-able. Especially when the fear kicks in. \u201cYikes! Panic! Chaos! Uncertainty! War! Terror! Dictators taking over the world!\u201d<\/p>\n

Stay the course. Stay. The. Course.<\/p>\n

A quick search tells me the phrase is likely nautical in origin, a captain\u2019s instruction to the helmsman in difficult conditions. This makes sense. \u201cStay the course, Sailor!\u201d is much easier to say than, \u201cMaintain a consistent, unaltering path while navigating these difficult conditions, Sailor!\u201d<\/p>\n

Current conditions are<\/em> difficult and the desire to alter the present-day path is huge<\/em>. How to find the ground when the rug has been pulled out from underfoot?<\/p>\n

Stay the course.<\/p>\n

Suit up. Show up. Do your best. Let go of the rest.<\/p>\n

In 2015, when I was living in England and providing spiritual care for the residents in a nursing home, I was amazed by how often \u201cThe War\u201d would come up during conversations. These men and women had all lived through WWII, and more than seven decades later its impact was still being felt, remembered, and talked about.<\/p>\n

What struck me most was how these now-elderly people had kept going during the most harrowing of times. They described getting on with their daily lives while being bombed, while their loved ones disappeared, while the war dragged on. The cooking had to be done, someone had to go to work. Kids went to school. Young people went to the cinema. Dancing happened every night! They stayed the course.<\/p>\n

This is what I think about when it all seems utterly hopeless. Do your daily life. Brush your teeth. Go to work. Do the things that need doing. And try to have some fun!<\/p>\n

Stay the course. It\u2019s a good practice.<\/p>\n

With love and blessings as you consistently and unalteringly navigate the challenges in your own lives,<\/p>\n

Celia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dearest Readers, As I write this letter, the sun is shining brightly on the snow in the park across the street and a big elm is casting deep blue shadows on the shimmering white. The sky is a much paler blue, a powder blue, like a young man\u2019s prom tux in the disco era. It\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1093,913,970,1092,910,1091,408],"class_list":["post-1686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-finding-peace-in-uncertainty","tag-healing-journey","tag-long-term-care","tag-navigating-challenges-in-daily-life","tag-spiritual-journey","tag-stay-the-course","tag-wwii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1686"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1688,"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1686\/revisions\/1688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}