Country singer Carrie Underwood usually spends a lot of time on the road performing in front of thousands of people. She doesn’t get to spend too much time with her husband Mike Fisher, who is a retired pro hockey player, nor her kids Isaiah, and 23-month-old Jacob.
But COVID-19 has allowed her to be with her family and learn the importance of being grateful, going with the flow, as well as realize that parenting is a two-way learning street.
She recorded a song with her son
Underwood, 37, dropped her very first holiday album in September, My Gift. On it, she sings a duet with her five-year-old son, Isaiah, which has a very special impact on her.
“It was so great,” she told People. “When we recorded, I was able to be in the booth with him and encourage him and try to remind him what words were coming up next, things like that.”
Continuing to do what she loves is one thing. But doing that with her son was extremely special for Underwood, who has faced tragedy in her life. When she listened back to the recording, she couldn’t contain herself.
“I got to listen to his vocals [get] put together and then listening to myself with him,” she said. “I was laughing, and I was crying, and it was just very overwhelming in a good way. It’s just very emotional.”
Coronavirus allowed her to spend more time with her family
Underwood said recording her latest album, which will appear on HBO Max as a Christmas special, was “a gift” and “a welcome distraction” from the coronavirus pandemic.
“It was such a stressful, hard year and nobody knew where it was headed the majority of the time,” she said. “It was nice to be able to go in and have this to look forward to.”
Despite having music to turn to, the world was a pretty difficult place in 2020, even for someone like Underwood. To stay calm, she started every day by being grateful for what she has. It helped that she was surrounded by loved ones.
“I tried my best to start every morning just being thankful,” she added.
“We’re all healthy right now. And we have each other, and I got to just stay in one place, which hasn’t happened in a long time and really just watch, especially my youngest one, to get to know him and kind of watch him grow.”
Carrie Underwood told People
She learned to go with the flow
Usually, so many of us have busy schedules and run from one thing to the next. But what if our schedule gets disrupted?
The pandemic was a major disruption for everyone, including Underwood. Even though she is a celebrity with many resources, she still had to learn to adapt and go with the flow, which was something she wasn’t sure she was capable of doing.
“[I] definitely discovered that I can go with the flow a little more than I thought.”
Underwood told People
“Once we were presented with challenge after challenge, instead of lamenting or freaking out, we came to expect that things weren’t going to go as planned,” she continued.
“Once we embraced that, we were able to say, ‘Okay, now what? How do we overcome obstacles?’ It turns out we’re pretty good obstacle-overcomers.”
Parenting goes both ways
Parents can feel a ton of pressure to teach their children everything they know to make them the best human beings possible. But they so often forget that children can teach them, too.
Underwood surely was reminded of this fact throughout the pandemic, especially when singing with her son, Isaiah.
Her experience growing with her family is a reminder that not all transformational change comes from within – our loved ones can bring it out of us too.
As for her new album, Underwood hopes we all listen to it with our loved ones.
“Even through a difficult year, I hope it gives people a sense of peace,” she said. “And makes them smile – and sing along.”
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