Isolation strategies have been in place for six weeks now – with very satisfactory results – but how have you used that time? Have you embraced it or resisted it? Once the restrictions are lifted will you go back to your old frenetic pace of life or have you taken time to consider some changes to your habits and lifestyle?
How often have you really spent time with yourself? It can be challenging, but it can also be the greatest gift you can give yourself. At the moment, you may have very little choice – especially if you live alone.
It is a great time to find out how you operate in the world – are you always striving to please others? Are you always striving to get more done, reach higher, earn more?
Do you ever take the time to evaluate what you really yearn for in your life, beyond what you can buy or experience?
If you have children, have you had free time to play games with them, read aloud to them as a family, watch a kids’ movie with them, or simply go out for a walk together? Maybe now is the time!
Are there people you haven’t had time to communicate with? Maybe now is the time.
If we consider this time a gift rather than a travesty, we can gain so much from the slow-down required of us.
Our nurses, doctors, teachers and others who work in essential services, may not have the benefits of ‘lockdown’ some of us are experiencing, but hopefully they, too, will find some times of solitude and restoration for themselves.
There will continue to be challenges – particularly for families – as everyone adjusts to the new pace, new ways of viewing the world – but hopefully we will all learn more about ourselves and the people who matter to us.
We are so lucky that this is happening at a time when we have so much opportunity for connecting – from our hearts and minds rather than physically. The written and spoken word has never been as important as it is right now.