I have been seeing and hearing about how we can intentionally use this transition time, this opening up post pandemic, to decide HOW we want to move forward.
Any time there is a change is a good time to piggyback on those changes to make more desired ones. The bigger the change the easier it may be to make other changes. I know for me, every school year or when starting a new job, I decide on certain things that I want try to do differently. It is easier to make changes when external things change – like your environment. When moving to a new house or a new town or a new job, we will be forced to leave things behind. This can be sad and hard, yet you can also use it to your advantage too.
We have all been through a MAJOR change and unusual time over the past year. It was long enough for new habits and a new normal to be created. Long enough for us to notice and not easily slip right back to the way things were.
We are now moving into a new phase where people are talking about things going back to “normal.”
For some, it may already feel like many things ARE back to normal. I know my family schedule already feels busy with extra-curricular activities that did not exist and were not an option this time last year.
I know I talked about this before, yet I think it is worth repeating. I recommend that we all take some time and think about what we liked about this past year. I am not trying to ignore or diminish the loss and suffering of this past year. But there were some good things too. Instead of thinking, “Why did this happen to me / us?” Instead ask, “What can I learn from this?” What were the lessons and realizations? Maybe it was that no matter how open your schedule, you still did not feel less stressed. (Although the pandemic brought a whole new set of stresses and worries…)
What do we want to pull forward into the future? What are we happy and excited about letting go of and leaving behind? Who did you really miss and are looking forward to connecting with in person? Who were you happy to have a reason not to see? What activities used to be on your calendar and you don’t really want to add them again?
What were some lessons or realizations from this past year?
What were some highlights? What did you like and enjoy? What did you miss the most?
Use this fresh start to be more intentional with your time and money. I truly believe a happy, meaningful life is when our time and money are aligned with our values.
I know I want to continue:
- Still having Zooms with my geographically distant family (which have already been a challenge to schedule)
- Hiking, biking, and being outside
- Unstructured downtime. I do not want to be overscheduled. (I need to work on this.)
- Special family time – playing cards, jigsaw puzzles, audio books. I want to hold onto these as long as possible.
What I missed the most:
- Traveling and exploring new cities and restaurants
- Seeing friends and family in person
- Having some “alone” time where not everyone was home all the time
- Not having to make and clean up every meal
- Having the library open more hours
Before jumping into summer, and before everyone starts going back to the office or work or school, think about what your priorities are.
What do you want more of in your life?
What do you want less of?
What can you do to make that happen?
Take the time to think about this and talk about these questions with your family. Make the past year of more value by reflecting and realizing the lessons learned and using this knowledge to help align your time and money with your values and what is most important to you.
Yes, you can create a Big Reset whenever you want and please remember this in times of change in the future.
It is worth highlighting and leveraging this unique universal forced reset that we all are going through at the same time. Talk about what meetings at work are not worthwhile. How can we re-design things to be better than before?
We have this fresh start, take advantage of it to question and try to change things for the better.
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