Lemonade Days: Love and War in Week 1

What a full roller coaster week it has been this first week of Lemonade Days, my summer series that allows me to shine a light on the beauty in spite of the headlines that rage around us, full of strife and anxiety.

My initial post here was met with mostly love and acceptance for what I was trying to do, but one reader’s messages threw me off and I actually considered scrapping the idea, deleting my posts and forgetting the whole thing.

The thoughts in my head echoed vehemently. Was I being “insensitive”, minimizing others’ pain, using my “flowery privilege” and ignoring the difficult plight of others to look at rainbows instead?

It was that evening, feeling somewhat pensive in the examination of self, I opened Instagram and the first thing that hit me was this quote from Donna Ashworth. A sage with words.

I am simply attempting to shine light where I believe there is darkness.

When I shared this experience with my community on Instagram and Substack, where I post Lemonade Days daily (except Sundays – this is just week one), the feedback was incredibly positive.

And yes, we who are not physically affected by wars and hunger, do have privilege, but then isn’t it our job to be in service to those who are suffering? Or should we all wallow in misery together? Where will that get us? Should we all get caught up in the fear and anxiety? Or can we be a beacon? A lighthouse in the storm? The sun rising from behind clouds? A lightworker?

Who am I to talk of war and suffering, I was only a very young child when I lived through one. I did not have to carry the burden my parents did in protecting their family. Though I did have a job that I carried out proudly and dutifully when the air raid sirens sounded.

Mine was to corral my grandmother from the far regions of the house and help her get under my parents’ raised bed. Our makeshift bomb shelter. Though air raid sirens still give me the heebie jeebies, we were blessed and fortunate. No bombs fell, and we all survived.

So I’ll give you the perspective of an online friend who has just moved herself to safety after finding herself in a war zone. She said, “The world is crazy, people live in illusion, angry, always hurt, traumatized, yet those who smell war every day smile, bake cakes and pray. Media has poisoned our souls, turned us into victims and sold us our healing, nothing is real, but LOVE. So much fake moral. I need rest, time with the flowers, with hugs, and laughter, long chats in the night, poems and tears. I am trying to find words, to paint, to transform the experience.”

And I’ll leave it there to take from it whatever you wish, to think and form your own opinions of what I am doing and what needs to be done. Either way, whether you support or not, I will continue. It is my duty as a human with a heart. I will continue making something sweet out of something sour. I hope you will take tiny sweet sips with me, especially if the lemons are particularly acrid.

In this Week 1 of Lemonade Days we focused on noticing tiny details. You can find my posts on Instagram and I’ll share this particular one with you.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Writing my heart out (@lifewithalegria)

Tell me, are you a noticer? What have you noticed lately that brought you joy, lifting the frequency of your soul?

A reminder that the only prize is the soul. Hold on to yours. We get there through Love and Joy!