Finding and Sharing Joy Again

Fri, April 02, 2021 5:29 PM | Anonymous

Submitted by Alan Colley, Host2Host Past President & Contributing Editor

Hello fellow Host2Host members and short-term rental hosts everywhere!

Safety. Hope. Comfort. Joy. 

Isn’t this at the heart of our hospitality?

Much of this past  year has stripped us of much that gives us comfort, safety and joy. If you are like me, waiting for yet another shoe to drop, it has put me into a kind of purgatory where any moment of joy can be accompanied by hours of sadness. I’m tired of being sad and worried. Have you found yourself feeling this way?

How do we break through this? How can we begin again and use fresh eyes to find new comfort, safety, hope and even joy again? I don’t have answers, of course, but I am willing to try.

As short-term rental hosts who welcome guests into our homes, it can be challenging to find joy in this pandemic. Yet when we feel safe and comforted ourselves, our guests will feel it, too.

Naturally, our guests may be facing these same challenges. They want to feel safe wherever they travel. Wouldn't you? As short-term rental hosts, one might say helping our guests feel safe, comfortable and yes, even joyful is our signature welcome. Even the best hotelier struggles to replicate what is in our hands to provide. 

My advice is this: begin by honestly acknowledging your feelings. Consider these feelings as separate from you. Choose to set the unwelcome ones outside. Then remember the elements of welcome that give you comfort, and even joy. Give those center-stage in your heart and allow them to break through. 

Find joy moment by moment, not in haste. Let’s allow ourselves to merge gently into hope. This may be counterintuitive at times like these, but being patient with ourselves, noticing the little things - the brilliance of the roadside daffodils, the way the morning light graces the curtains, the first chirp of a robin - can slowly lift our spirits. It has lifted mine.

This is a gift we can give to ourselves and our guests, one moment at a time.

Alan Colley

Host2Host Past President and Contributing Editor

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