I’m the kind of person, parent and professional who always looks for the positive, the upside, what the glass is half-filled with. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no PollyAnna. I comprehend the enormity of the health and financial ramifications of having an entire planet push the pause button.
Yet I can’t help but think about the good that can come out of this for each of us personally, for our families, for our country and our planet. Even in the time of social distancing, I truly believe this will bring us closer together as humans and closer to the people we were designed to be.
This virus doesn’t care what color our skin is, where we live, who we pray to or who we vote for. Because we’re all the same, and we’re all in this together.
I don’t have all the answers—for our kids, my team I lead, my readers—and neither do you. We’re all feeling out of control, and it’s unsettling at best and paralyzing at worst. But what each of us do have is the ability to control the way we respond, and we have an opportunity to inspire each other to use this time to grow.
Because on the other side—regardless of what the economy looks like and the losses we’ve suffered—we will pick up pieces big and small and move on. And I ask all of us: who do we want to be when we do? I don’t want to be someone ravaged by anxiety and helplessness, and I bet you don’t want to either. I want to be someone more connected to my true desires and dreams and more connected to the people in my life.
My latest book is all about figuring out what’s really important to you, learning how to focus on that and let go of everything else. Well, there’s nothing like a global pandemic to help you put that into practice. One of my readers, Monica Petersen posted on Instagram, “This book changed my perspective. This quarantine is strengthening my priorities.”
I hope this time helps you strengthen yours too. After months of tireless work to launch my book into the world, I’m embracing this time as a gift and a challenge to continue to practice what I preach in its pages.
Getting crystal clear on what’s really important to me and setting Goals that serve my Priorities.
Relentlessly editing anything from my life that doesn’t serve me.
Starting and keeping the habits that make it possible for me to achieve my Goals.
Finding quiet every day to hear my Heart Voice, which still—even in the midst of uncertainty—tells me what I need to know.
Acknowledging my fears and examining each one with the process that’s allowed me to #FFear through countless exciting and terrifying times.
And choosing Love. All the damn time.
I hope you’ll find ways to quiet your anxious mind. Limit your news intake every day and instead read or listen to a book that can make you stronger. Hop on video chats with people who lift you up. Continue or adopt practices to boost your mental and physical health. And keep looking for the good in the tough, the light in the dark. Because there’s so much light in the stories of people helping one another, families finding the joy in uninterrupted time together, the masses understanding the enormous value of our teachers and health care providers and public health experts and decisive leadership that puts people first. And our daughter finally deep-cleaning her room to “make it camera-ready” for video school that starts tomorrow.
Do I wish we didn’t need a pandemic to bring more good and light out in us? You bet. But as long as it’s here, I’ll drink a big cup of this stuff. I hope you’ll join me.