Day 25: Control what you can!

AJ finally tested negative yesterday, we are all relieved and thankful to God and all our family friends and well wishers. We thought it was all over after 2 weeks, but this virus had a mind of its own. The new mentality AJ has is we have to show this virus that we can beat it by being as positive but aggressive as possible.

The more I listen to the news, I realize that this whole ordeal and what’s going around the world is really not in our control and by totally accepting that fact, only can I get some internal peace.

I was supposed to be in Karachi, visiting my parents this week and had been planning my trip since last November. I would never have imagined in my wildest dreams, that I would be cancelling my trip, but unfortunately I have no control over the situation.

  • The most powerful weapon against uncertainty is your perspective, it can empower or victimize you. By controlling what we can, we can feel powerful. Being constantly scared and stressed about the virus, only hurts your emotional health and physical health.

    • The important thing is to think about the things we can control:

    • Staying home and socially distancing
    • Washing our hands and surfaces often
    • Staying active as much as we can
    • Staying positive and optimistic
    • Taking time out to look after our emotional health by breathing, meditating and praying
    • Giving ourselves some tech free time daily
    • Taking one day at a time
    • Eating lots of plant foods which have antioxidants to help with our immunity
  • By focusing on the now, will help us to be in the present as no one knows what will happen in the near future or far future!
  • To celebrate, I decided to bake Amir’s favorite banana bread, but I really wanted to decrease the sugar and butter. I perused through some recipes and made a Zucchini banana bread made with olive oil and maple syrup. It was really delicious and AJ and Saniya loved it the semi sweet chocolate chips helped. It was different from my regular but it was still moist. I am obsessed with baking with olive oil as there is no saturated fat and the taste is great.
  • Here is the recipe I used, I did not have all purpose flour so I added finely shredded coconut and some flaxseed meal.
  • I also enjoyed it toasted the next day with a little bit of butter.
  • https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/chocolate-chip-olive-oil-zucchini-banana-bread/