It’s been a long few months.
It feels like it’s been longer. There are memes circulating all over the internet talking about how 2020 is the year of COVID. Is it really? I mean, we’re not even half way through the year yet, and for many, it’s only really been a couple of months.
The good news is that, as we are settling in to whatever our “new normal” is, many of us are feeling this current period as if it’s a lull; a time to pause; perhaps even a calm before the storm as some are anticipating more changes as they start thinking about returning to work.
I think it’s a perfect time to reflect, and make some important decisions about where we want to go from here. Take our your journal or notebook, or even just a regular piece of paper, and take some time to reflect on the following:
Lessons Learned
What has slowing down taught you about yourself?
Maybe you hadn’t realized how much sleep you really needed, and you’ve spent a lot of this time catching up and resting in different ways. Resting isn’t just about sleep. We need to give ourselves time to rest our brains too.
What has slowing down taught you about others?
What have you learned about those you live with? And those you don’t live with but that you’ve endeavoured to stay connected with through whatever other means? Maybe it’s about what stress looks like for them, their levels of resilience, their capacity to support you and/or others.
Coping and Resilience
What are some things you were doing before that have helped you cope during this time?
One thing is certain, working from home and self-isolating for such an extended period of time has forced all of us to reach deep into our coping mechanisms bags and use every tool we have. What are some of those tools that have worked best for you?
What new practices, habits, hobbies will you want to keep doing?
At some point during these many weeks, we’ve all reached into our bag of tricks and come up empty. What old practices, habits, or hobbies did you dust off, or try for the first time that made you go “Huh! That’s surprisingly helpful!” ?
What have you realized doesn’t work for you anymore?
Conversely, maybe you tried to rely on an old coping mechanism only to realize it just doesn’t work in the same way it used to. Or maybe it became clear that it just wasn’t sustainable.
Re-evaluating Priorities
What are some things that you’ve discovered are important to you, that you may not have paid as much attention to before?
The good thing about suddenly being cut off from just about everything is that it makes us appreciate things we may have been taking for granted. Because everything is slowed down in such a significant way, it may also be an opportunity to rethink what our priorities are. Have your actions been in alignment with what’s really important to you? For example, if your family really is your priority, have you made time in your schedule to close off your computer and spend time with them? Or have you continued spinning your wheels, spending even more time working because your commute from bed to computer is much shorter than it once was?
How have your priorities shifted during this time?
Sometimes, events like this happen to give us an opportunity to sit and re-evaluate our choices. Have I been focusing on the right things? Am I going in a direction that will bring me happiness? Is there something else I would rather focus my attention towards? This is your opportunity to make a different choice, if you don’t like the way your life has been going so far.
Be careful not to make any drastic changes at this time though. It’s important to also consider the fact that social distancing for an extended period of time may cause some mental patterns to emerge that normally wouldn’t manifest in normal circumstances. Make sure you are in a calm mental state before making important decisions.
Try it
Even though I normally head toward my journal in difficult time, I found I took a while before being ready to sit with these questions. If it feels good to try it, or if you’re curious to find out what comes up, then I encourage you to pick up your journal, notebook, or just a regular piece of paper, write these questions down, and spend time on each one, just writing whatever comes up. Don’t think about it too much. Just let the words come out on their own. And if you feel so inclined, send me a note and we can talk about it together.
I wish you well during these strange times,
Mel