Will life ever be the same again?

“I felt sick for about 10 days. On the 10th day, I went to bed and I woke up in the middle of the night, feeling literally like there was an elephant on my chest.”

Nanda Jansson is one of the unlucky ones who made the acquaintance of COVID-19 in March 2020, while the other billions of us followed cases like hers on the media, safely locked into our homes, not sure what we should believe about this strange new disease that was quickly taking over the planet.

A lot of us had lived in some degree of denial, not believing the possible severity of an infection – and its potential to completely change the life which came afterwards.

It took Nanda 71 weeks to return to work again. She documented the long journey to recovery on her blog called “Living My Truth”. Her “Corona Chronicles” spread around the planet and helped others navigate their own COVID story.

“I don’t feel I’ve been suffering from COVID. I’ve been surfing the waves. I like to see myself as a resilient surfer.”

Nanda, a Dutch woman who found love and a new home in Sweden (“we actually believe we are the world’s first internet couple”), is a joy to listen to, as she radiates a deep curiosity and gratitude for life.

In this episode, we talk about:

• A “first waver’s” experience of almost dying and ever so slowly recovering from (Long) COVID-19
• Finding the gift and beauty in slowing down
• Learning to accept not only the “positive” aspects of our authentic selves
• Welcoming challenging times for they change who we are for good
• Becoming “person soup”

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Martha Beck: “The Way of Integrity” (book); “Growing Wings: The Power of Change” (blog post)
• Katherine May: “Wintering” (book)
• Nanda Jansson:
  • “Corona Chronicles” (blog post series)
  • “Wintering” (blog post)
  • “The Elephant on my Lungs” (blog post)