Let's Not Waste This Crisis
Weeks ago, many were wishing for time to slow down, to spend more time at home with family, and reduce the crazy pressures of modern living. We were longing for time to catch our breath, organize, study, play, or just do nothing. While none of us could have imagined the answer to this wish coming from a world-wide pandemic, the result of being isolated is safety and the elimination of schedules and time pressures. Today, and for a while, we can experience living without rush. This may be the very opportunity that comes with this crisis.
My doctoral dissertation was focused on how women with breast cancer cope with their disease. One of my unexpected discoveries was that almost all of the women I interviewed volunteered how their tragic experience had brought growth and self-discovery. I’ll never forget a modest, shy woman of about 50 sitting close to her also modest, shy, husband on their couch in their front room. She volunteered in a quiet, calm voice, “I’ve learned from my breast cancer that I don’t need to spend time with my mother-in-law.” Her husband subtly nodded his head in the affirmative. They went on to explain that his mother was not a nice person and their visits were predictably negative. Both agreed that neither had the courage to limit these trying visits until they were faced with a life-limiting disease. Their cancer crisis resulted in the brave decision to re-align where and with whom they spent time.
This was just of the many stories I’ve heard in my career about the choice to be resilient--to not just bounce back, but to bounce even higher than where you were before the crisis. If you think back on your life, I suspect you’ll discover that your most significant growth has come during or after a challenging time.
Today, we can collectively decide to not waste this crisis. Whatever we were wishing for, we now have. Whatever we were hoping to do with freedom of time, we can now accomplish. Discoveries are awaiting, if we look for them. Consider these questions:
· What will I do so I won’t regret this remarkable window of time in my life?
· What would I regret doing?
· What example will I be to my family and to others of how to be resilient?
· What can I learn about myself that will increase my resilience?
· Where would I like to grow?
· How can I help others who are in need?
After being in isolation for two weeks, the word, RESET, resonates as my theme for this next month. I want to restart, restore, re-establish what matters most and align my resources to those priorities. Above all, I want to reset my life pace to a slower speed so that I don’t miss moments going forward in my life. This quote has been with me for many years and now is my time to heed Nadine Stairs’ words that she wrote when she was 85 years old:
“Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had to do it over again, I'd have more of them. In fact, I'd try to have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day.”
I’ll share my reset discoveries in upcoming posts. What is your theme so far? What are you looking forward to this week? Love to hear from you!
PS
I’m very mindful of the heroes among us who are risking their lives to serve, and those who are suffering from the consequences of this crisis. Look for ways to be kind, and to support them any way you can. We can do this better together.