LinkedIn Soul-ful Distancing and Why College

The coronavirus gave the world a reset button. We didn’t ask for this forced pause, but we can benefit from it.

Social distancing has paved the way for Soul-ful Distancing – a rare chance to leave all the busyness of life as we knew it and privately reflect on what matters to each of us so that we can move forward with more purpose.

There is nothing right now that’s “business as usual.” Everything is up for review.

The massive threats and chaos have brought a unique opportunity to turn inward and explore who we are, who we will become, and what’s important to us.

Where are we living on autopilot, doing what we are expected to do without knowing why? Why have we done what we’ve done, created the goals we are pursuing, and embarked on the paths we found ourselves on before the coronavirus?

Admittedly, when I coach college-bound families, I don’t ask why they want their kids to go to college. Instead, since 2011 I’ve asked about priorities.  Are they more concerned about the cost of college or which college their student attends?

Today that changes.

How do we expect a college education to benefit our kids? There are a multitude of possible answers. None is right nor wrong. But getting clear on why – thank you, Simon Sinek – can have a powerful impact on shaping the “how.”

Thankfully, technology has made #stayhome orders easier to bear and allowed us to maintain much-needed human connections. But all the innovations can tempt us to busy our minds and rob us of the gifts of solitude and quiet reflection.

Let’s seize the opportunity to engage in more Soul-ful Distancing so that when this pandemic is over, we have created our lives around what matters.

If not now, when?