As we open up our lives again, I want you to do one thing for me: take action now to improve your life moving forward from this pandemic lockdown. There, that’s it. Nothing more to read here, right? I just can’t think of a better time to re-evaluate, re-assess and re-focus your life.
As we’ve all been sitting at home, I’m sure I’m not the only one who cleaned out closets and pitched food from the fridge and donated fabric that I am never going to sew into anything: we have had plenty of time to clean up little messes at home. Now it’s time to clean up our “outside” selves.
Think about the thoughts that have been bouncing around in your head for these last few months:
- As soon as the weather breaks I am going to walk every day.
- I have loved not coloring my gray while I’ve been at home. Maybe it’s time to go gray.
- Wow, I honestly don’t miss the office one bit. It’s time to retire.
- I miss work. I can’t wait to get back.
- I know I can’t travel for some time, but this had made me so aware of how much I miss it. When it’s time, I’m out of here!
- I miss the kids. They are too far away and this pandemic has made it painfully obvious to me. By the end of the year, I want to move closer to them.
Do any or all of those sound familiar? All of them have gone through my head and probably yours over the lockdown weeks. I’m not sure which ones are actionable for me or which ones I should drop (none of my kids are ready for me to join them!).
But, if we fail to give our lockdown thoughts some serious attention and we go back to life just as we left it, we will have lost a lot of valuable insight about how we really feel. And we don’t want to lose that value. So, do something about it.
Make one change, just one change. Take action now to improve your life while you still have all of this on your mind. Better yet, write it down. When you are thinking about what you’ve loved and what you’ve not loved about being isolated at home, make a note. Your brain is telling you something: don’t ignore it.
Stay safe and stay healthy!
