As we all continue to participate in a worldwide lockdown, it becomes difficult to see what our future will look like. We spend our days at home with our families, or some are alone, wondering when this will end and what will our lives look like when it is done.
I have been wondering this myself. What will mine and my children’s lives look like after Covid-19?
All of our lives have changed dramatically; entertainment has changed, exercise has changed, travel has changed, and jobs have either been lost or damaged. I am fortunate that I am considered one of the essential workers. Veterinarians are considered essential; however, we have less exposure than many in human health care or grocery store workers, because we can keep clients out of our buildings. We do have damaged businesses because we are limited on what we are allowed to do, so our workers’ salaries and thus our businesses are cut significantly.
I think most of us have been working so hard to keep busy - to keep our minds off of our troubles - that we have completely ignored the fact that we have been given a tremendous gift. The gift of time. We have been given time to think about things differently. We have been giving time to set goals that we have previously ignored because we did not have time to work on them.
Let’s think about what we want when we come out of this situation.
What we do not want, is to let fear and uncertainty keep us from doing something constructive and amazing with our time. Do not stop making plans. This is precisely when we need to keep planning for the future. Creating a plan helps your brain to stay in a place of constructive thinking and not destructive thinking.
What we want, is to practice loving ourselves first. It is hard to get motivated or take any action until you choose to care for yourself. Start with understanding exactly what you need and then getting those needs met. Eat right, exercise, meditate, and reach out for help if you are struggling. Make the effort to have compassion and love for yourself as you would a close friend or family member. Once you are treating yourself well, you will be capable of stepping out of your comfort zone to move forward with new plans and goals.
What we want is to think about new goals. Take a class, learn a new skill, write a journal, or create some art. Do things that you have not had the time or energy to do before. I have started taking voice lessons, something that I have been wanting to do for years. Lucky for me, my daughter is a professional opera singer and is exactly positioned to be my perfect teacher. With more time off, she is in the position to take new students, and I am in the position to hire a voice teacher.
So, take advantage of this time that you have been offered to set some priorities. If you are feeling overwhelmed by the things that you want to do, decide what is most important to you. You can write a list of 10 goals and then pair it down to three. Then choose the one goal that is most important to you and start your plan. Decide on all the tasks that you need to do to accomplish the prioritized goal. Once you have your steps in order, schedule time to accomplish each step until you have accomplished the goal. Do not move on to the next goal until you finish the first.
Think about how you want to emerge from your quarantine and who you want to be.
Then take some time and action to move forward.
Dr. Julie Cappel
“Sometimes life knocks you on your ass... get up, get up, get up!!! Happiness is not the absence of problems, it's the ability to deal with them.” ― Steve Maraboli
“Change has to come for life to struggle forward.” ― Helen Hollick
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