COVID-19: An Opportunity
COVID-19. You can’t turn on the news or browse on the internet without someone giving their opinion on what is going on in the world.
And I’m going to add my name to the list of people whose opinion you’ve been exposed to, but, bear with me, my take may just be a little more positive than some of the others out there.
COVID-19 has affected everyone in some way. People have lost loved ones, lost their jobs, had to stay home with their kids for weeks on end, and had their world flipped around overnight. I too went through a period filled with the highest levels of anxiety I’ve ever had, with no idea what tomorrow was going to bring, and absolutely terrified of what the future held. Once I gave myself time to process all these feelings (because processing grief and fear and stress is incredibly important in any situation) I started to see the positives that can come out of this situation.
I saw communities coming together to protect those that were at a higher risk, to support local businesses and restaurants, and just plain help their fellow human beings. I saw businesses change their business model to not only stay afloat themselves, but to do what they could to support the community in return. And many of these changes I think will be around to stay (I do so hope that to-go cocktails will become a permanent change.) One that I really really hope sticks around is remote working and learning as the entire country had to figure out to do that at home. Sometimes it’s just a better (or the only) option for people to live their lives.
A lot has changed over the past many weeks. And now, as the world begins to open up again, we are being given a very unique opportunity - we get to decide what things we want to put back into our lives.
Maybe you’re been working from home for the past many weeks and you want to continue working from home, you have so much more proof to show your employer that that actually works for you and you can still do your job just as well (if not better) while in the comforts of your own home.
Maybe you’ve felt relief from not having to see certain friends and family members while staying at home. Maybe that’s a relationship you just don’t reconnect with in order to build the life you want.
You get to pick how you want your life to be going forward. How you will spend your time, what your energy will go towards, who you’ll spend time with. We’ve all has the chance to reflect on what’s really important in life, don’t let that reflection time go to waste.
-Chelsea