It started on Thursday when my iPod fried from overcharging. I'm now waiting for a headphone jack adapter to be delivered (would have ordered a new iPod, but Apple no longer makes the tiny ones I love for running... but I digress). I always use music during workouts to pass the time and prevent quitting early.
Yesterday, evening, I took a run/walk for almost two hours. I never thought I'd be able to survive that long without music for a distraction, but sometimes we amaze ourselves. In that time, my mind jumped around a bit until it started focusing on the upside of such a devastating pandemic. Don’t get me wrong, I fully respect the gravity of the situation at hand. My husband and I are both at risk from complications, my grandmother is essentially in isolation at her retirement home, and as the days tick on, we’re more and more inundated with alarming updates. Having spent several years working and going to school in Las Vegas, I have far too many friends and former colleagues currently crippled by the closures there, not knowing the magnitude of it all, not knowing when it will end, and not knowing what will happen when it does end. Regardless, there is a silver-lining to be found, there’s always a silver-lining.
So often in our work and personal lives, we feel overwhelmed, pressed for time, stretched to the brink. We constantly claim to seek happiness, but rarely dare venture from our bubbles to pursue it. We tend to live a monotonous routine that may keep us in a rhythm, but it does not bring us peace. Every Monday, I’d go to the chiropractor then turn from that parking lot straight into Taco Bell for the exact same order. Tuesdays McDonald’s, Whataburger Wednesdays, Sonic Thursdays, lunch with a coworker on Fridays. The fact I saved a minute or two a day in deciding what I wanted for lunch was my justification to doing the same thing with the same results. I was a robot, going through the motions, merely existing. I claimed I didn’t have enough time. I was too tired after work to do things around the house, too drained to workout, the thought of socializing was exhausting. Time was the enemy of happiness.
In Dallas, we are under “social distancing” and "shelter in place" restrictions. Many other areas (local, state, national) have stricter orders. Because of this, I now have the gift of time. WE now have the gift of time. I have time to wipe down the baseboards in my entire house that mildly irked me. Time to organize a closet that was in disarray. Time to get out and take a two-hour walk to clear my head and focus on me. I’m able to get back in the kitchen (6 hours yesterday, no kidding!) and cook. We now have time!
I’ll say it again for those in the back, “We now have time!” This is the time to reach out to loved ones. My trip to visit my parents next week is most certainly not going to happen – even if it did, I wouldn’t be able to see my grandmother due to the retirement home being locked down. But I can’t tell you the last time I talked to her on the phone. I’ve talked to friends from elementary that I’ve lost track with over the years. I’ve worked on some creative projects, fixed things around the house, and fixed things about me. Time to kick back with a face mask. Time to do my nails. Time to focus on me.
You see, taking care of yourself is sometimes misconstrued as being selfish. That’s not always the case; especially not in the current times. We all know that in case of emergency, you are to “put your own mask on first before helping others”. Do we really take those instructions to heart? We must make sure that we are taken care of before assisting the community. I’m not saying to let your elderly neighbor go hungry and without toilet paper because you’re taking a bubble bath. I’m saying make sure you are healthy and able to assist. Make sure your head is level and you are at a place to help.
View this time as a gift and take advantage of it to look at yourself and admit what you don’t like and make a plan to fix it. What’s missing in your life, what passions have you left in the past for one reason or another, who in your neighborhood needs some assistance that you’ve overlooked before?
Are you unhappy professionally? Take time to update your LinkedIn profile, reach out to contacts, read industry publications, pursue continuing education. Are you unfulfilled? Where can you volunteer when social distancing ends? Can you spread awareness now via social media? Have you explored your city? Create a bucket list of mom-and-pop restaurants and shops to visit when they open back up. Fix broken or weakened bonds in your family and friends. Fix that door that always creaks that annoys you to no end (except it’s never really annoyed you to the point you fix it). Feel like a bad neighbor because you don’t know your neighbors? Get active on Nextdoor or local social media groups. Leave encouraging notes on doors or let people know you’re available to help. Donate blood if you’re able, encourage others to do the same. Now’s the time to make improvements, make memories. It’s the time to learn, to explore new opportunities, to find your happy place, to center your mind, to renew.
Have fun with the time. I created a March Madness bracket of activities. I require myself to do all activities, my favorite of each “matchup” advances to the next round where I do them all again. The “winner” of my bracket will have been an activity completed six separate times.
My friends and I have created virtual happy hours – live-streaming as we all chat like we would at happy hour. Pick a theme and voila – instead of being at a Mexican restaurant, everyone’s eating chips, salsa, and tacos; or go Italian and carbo load (after all, I think the majority agrees this year’s summer body has been postponed to 2021). Make the best of what you can with what you have.
It’s okay to be scared, it’s encouraged to keep physical distance, but do not be stagnant. Take advantage of the hardship and come out better. Be rested, be refocused, be motivated, be better.
Business travel will return, meetings will resume. Hospitality will rebound. Meeting planners will still be in demand. Face-to-face interaction trumps virtual meetings. They build better rapport, have better retention, and create an undeniable energy. It’s 2020, if virtual meetings haven’t replaced face-to-face meetings, they aren’t going to. Don’t worry hospitality companies – meetings mean business. They drive economies and sales. They cannot be replicated.
Restrictions on the “normal” we used to know are likely to drag on for the foreseeable future. When the dust settles and we start to crawl back out into the world, a new normal is likely to take hold. For the sake of ourselves, and humanity, I think we deserve to try to make the new normal a healthier, happier, community-focused normal. What we do these next few weeks will have a direct impact on the state of society when we all emerge. Take some time to focus on your mental health and happiness and emerge from the isolation cocoon as a beautiful butterfly sent to spread smiles. Do not waste the time brewing and sitting stationary. Come out better than you went in, with your priorities as your focus, and happiness will be the by-product.
Who would have guessed a broken iPod could fix my view on the pandemic restrictions and locate the silver-lining?
