So much is unknown.
Do we reopen, or wait? Are we past the peak, or just over the first summit on a mountain range? Are we safe yet?
After weeks of restrictions, it’s easy to feel that we’re swirling in a maelstrom of uncertainty, helpless to make decisions when so much remains unknown and out of our control. I think that’s normal. We’ve traded a trip on the highway for an off-roading adventure, and we don’t know where it’s going to take us this year.
Let’s lean into the uncertainty. Let’s embrace it and use it to explore and appreciate what really matters: Our health, our family, friends and loved ones, our home, our community, our compassion and creativity, our resilience as human beings.
As for me, I have some moments of frustration but I’m staying grounded by trying to cook new dishes and workout more. On the professional side, I’m focused on what I can control on my client’s behalf and staying abreast of what might come next. The mantra right now is one day at a time.
How are you coping? What lessons are you learning about yourself? What have you had the courage to try for the first time?
This pandemic is scary, but it’s also a once in a lifetime chance to hit the reset button and connect with the creativity, joy and good-old human ingenuity that can flourish within the limitations of pandemic life.
Eventually, we’ll recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s not clear yet what it will look like, and we’ll likely see more hard days before we get there. Businesses will reopen, people will go back to work, the recession will pass and the country will rebuild.
We will heal. But some marks will remain as reminders of our experience.
The Great Depression taught people to clip coupons and make do or go without. 9/11 upended our travel rituals and awareness on terrorism.
Some lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic will stay with us long after the immediate crisis fades. Some will be unconscious — maybe we’ll become a society of dutiful handwashers and social distancers. Others will be lessons we consciously take with us about our values and ability to adapt to circumstances beyond our control.
I’m hopeful and excited to see what we learn. Let’s make it good.
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