Always Forward, Always Moving

Sitting at my local coffee shop, I was there, reminiscing about an easier time, thinking about running around my town on a two-wheeled "freedom machine" decorated with cardboard rectangles with Keith Hernandez, Vince Coleman, and Dan Wilson on the front. I grew up in a safer time centered around one concept - coming home before the street lights came on. Between sips of my cappuccino, I came to the realization - I was constantly moving back then, whether on two feet or the two well-traveled Huffy wheels.

My weekly schedule at 12 years old was jam-packed. It included 40 hours in the classroom, ten hours on a baseball diamond, six hours with Scouting, and the list goes on. Yet, I was always going somewhere, moving forward; the desire to be perpetually in motion is a piece woven into my life's fabric, which makes navigating our new normal a challenging task.?

Like many of you, I don't drive to work anymore. Racking up the steps on my trusty health app is more complicated because my office is now 25 feet from my bedroom. Meandering around the office to gauge the pulse of my team and share information isn't an option. Everything has changed, and if you ask our friends at the Center for Disease Control (CDC), it isn't going away anytime soon.?

The challenges of this pandemic are many, and with variant after variant affecting the way we live our lives, it is easy to have the climate affect your attitude. We can feel stagnant, in a rut, or professional clock-watchers. That is why a forward-leaning mindset is critical to our mental wellbeing.

Dr. Peter Neiman, a world-renowned psychologist who focuses on overcoming adversity and stretching your mind, summed up the importance of forward thinking with the following quote:?

"Moving forward is one of the upmost important decisions we can make in life because it allows us to grow, learn new lessons, have more energy, enjoy more peace and overcome our adversities."

Over the past year, I've embraced Neiman's concept along with a few others listed below:

1) Find your passion

2) Determine your purpose

3) Be perpetually in motion

Finding your passion and purpose is vital in finding and continuing forward momentum, whether on or off the job. A few ideas? Explore volunteer opportunities, go back to school, tackle a new hobby, or get the best of both worlds and find a job that allows you to get paid doing what you love. The goal is to avoid those pandemic potholes. Because speaking from experience, those dips can do some severe damage to your "freedom machine", affect your balance, and halt any forward momentum whether you're on two feet or two wheels.