What Will Life Look Like After Quarantine ?

I am anxious about returning to life after quarantine.  What will my life look like in 6 months?

How are we to reintegrate into the “real world” after such a serious slow down? Yes, it was scary and uncertain and unsettling at first. But after many weeks, we got into our groove, found our rhythm, and even allowed ourselves to stop and smell the roses. I actually went as far as to cultivate those roses, feeding them and watering them as part of my new daily routine. 

I am already well on my way to untangling myself from traditional corporate life and my legal career, but admittedly I was still running a million miles an hour in a lot of different directions. The pace of the corporate and legal world was deeply ingrained in me and I didn’t know how to get off that hamster wheel.

           Quarantine: enter stage left.

 Suddenly I was forced to slow down. No errands to run. No office commute. No “busyness” to make me feel important. I had no choice but to prioritize each day, hour by hour, by what was truly necessary and important. 

First, my children’s schoolwork and community. My autistic toddler’s therapy. Becoming a pseudo- therapist in several disciplines was equally daunting and exhausting. However, despite my fears that he would regress in quarantine, he was thriving. Truly thriving. Because his mother has been there with him day in and day out, hands on, and present to meet his needs. Second priority behind my children was my growing business. Long term, my business ventures would continue to give me this self-made schedule and time with my family—exactly why I chose to venture into entrepreneurship in the first place. Third, self-care and exercise also made an appearance on my priority list early on in quarantine as I quickly realized that without good physical and mental health, the whole ship could go down. 

Everything else, unapologetically, went by the wayside. As I settled into many weeks of this pace, something dawned on me.  In January 2020 I did a life check-in with myself and wrote out 5 areas of change I wanted in my life. Financial abundance, marriage fulfillment, health & healing (personal and family), business success, and happiness & simplicity. Through quarantine, I had each of those goals in my grasp. Strange but true!

 Now, I have a very bold question to ask of you. Possibly even scary. I’m giving you permission to ask yourself this question as well. 

           What does your IDEAL LIFE look like? 

Were there pieces of this quarantine for which you have been so grateful? Quality time with your spouse or kids? Breathing room from the work stress? No long commute?  Flexibility of schedule? Getting out for walks in the middle of the day? Planting a garden? Zoom calls with extended family?

 Close your eyes (yes, right now!) and think about yourself 6 months from today. Are you right back where you were in February 2020? Are you back to running the rat race? Are you stuck on the hamster wheel again? Are your children back to spending more time with caregivers than with you?

Or

Did you find a way to pivot? Did you find a way to capture the essence of this quarantine and carry it forward into the next chapter? Did you find a way to maintain the elusive work-life balance? Did you hit that reset button?

I’ve found merely realizing and acknowledging you might want to pivot is a huge step! Even if you can only take a baby step in a different direction, in reality that is a huge step. 

Knowing you are not alone in this feeling is reassuring. Many people from all walks of life are feeling this uncertainty at this very minute about heading back into the grind. This uncertainty is really a fear of losing this gift of time we have been given. 

Did we do enough with it? How do we keep it?   

 It is a really brave decision to do something different with your life. It is a really brave decision to actually capture this gift of time like a firefly in a jar to continue shining light in the months to come. It is a really brave decision to find a way—any such way—to hang on to the silver lining of this pandemic. 

If you are reading this and the wheels are turning in your mind right now about your vision for your future, I applaud you. 

Here a few key actions you can take right now in this moment to reduce those feelings to something tangible and carry them forward:

o  Gratitude List: what are 3 things you are grateful for resulting from quarantine? List them on paper and hang them somewhere you can see them daily.

o  Baby Steps: what are 3 baby steps you can take to keep those same things in the forefront of your life over the next 6 months? Think small, practical steps that won’t overwhelm you.

o  Be Brave: what is a brave, bold step you can take to re-create these grateful feelings permanently?  Is there something you allowed yourself to dream about during quarantine? What is your ideal life? You don’t have to commit to act on it, just let your mind wander there and envision it. Cutting back on hours? Asking to work from home several days a week? Starting a new venture to build towards a goal to quit the 9-5?  Nothing is off the table here. Give yourself permission to spend 15 minutes and sit with this idea.

The world as we know it has changed indeed. It’s acceptable for you to change with it, but this time on your terms and to build your dreams.