RIGHT Your Next Chapter
Life is full of seasons and while there may be slight to drastic changes in these seasons over time, as seen in the world today, change is guaranteed. You may find yourself with more spare time today than prior to COVID-19. You may find yourself, depending on occupation, with less spare time and perhaps less sleep. No matter which end of the spectrum you might be, there is a common denominator of stress or fear. Whether these triggers are from overwork, depletion of your bank account, bills piling up, screaming home school students, unhealthy environments or people, or any other cause, they all share a commonality, a common numerator. Think of it like this, regardless of the denominator in your life, there is the other shared and "common" truth that puts you in a great place. (maybe you have already figured out where I am going with this) If YOU are the numerator, then you are on TOP of it!
The key to staying "on top of it" is Self-Care. Whether you are currently out of work and have tons of free time or you are lucky to get sleep, you must take time for you. I'm not saying that you should run away from it all or treat yourself to some online binge shopping. I am however saying, take some time to pull away to a quiet place to work on you. It is important to take time to feel what you are feeling. Take any topic such as work, family, relationships, finances, what matters most, now pick one. Write down your thoughts, your feelings, your fears, related to any single topic for that day. Next, take time to reflect on why you might feel the way you do about, or react to circumstances. This may be more important than ever and if you can repeat this behavior over time, it will become a habit and a healthy one at that.
A great question to ask yourself is "What would I change, and why?". Change for the sake of change is perhaps only good for causing more stress or increased distractions. Change for the sake of you to realize the best version of you on the other hand, is always worthwhile! In order to really determine what changes are needed, first we must be honest with ourselves. If we lie to ourselves then this exercise is futile. If you could go back to February, what would you change and why? Write down the question and the answers, then reflect on them. Are any of these changes that you would consider to be wise to keep in place going forward? I would bet that some of the perceived priorities for most of us have shifted and as a result, things that seemed important before, turned out to not be.
Knowing the difference between Necessary and Important is VERY important. You may not define the two words all that different, but they are different. It may require a shift in your mindset to see the difference, but you could probably list 5-10 things that you may no longer see as important that may have been seen as necessary before. Our circumstances often dictate our mindset, when the truth is this, the circumstances will be constantly changing in our lives. Don't get me wrong, we should always check our priorities. I would encourage you to conduct an assessment on Necessary vs. Important parts of your life. There will be constants in our lives that are both necessary and important us, but we are the numerator, which puts us on top it.
In the meantime, be the best version of you. Don't let fear consume you. Don't give circumstances power over you that causes hurt to another.I have a hope for the days following this pandemic, that will return us to the normalcy that we are missing. I also have a hope that we can take the time to observe and reflect during this time so we can RIGHT our next chapter. We will never regret doing the right thing. Every day is full of opportunity for us to take the next right step, what's yours?
Chris Thorpe / 4.26.20