hindsight 2020

What a year - 2020. And we're only halfway through! I think this video sums up the concept of hindsight 2020 the best - how life was "before the virus." It's written from the future perspective - but what about the perspective of right now? In no particular order some random thoughts and feelings for how the COVID 2020 year is hitting me.

It's been hard.... to be isolated, to miss out on touch and connection, to stop hugging, to stop gathering, to re-set and re-do the work we only ever knew as fabulous in-person experiences, to become Zoom experts, to not get to see aging family (or any family who's far away), to be a parent right now (can't personally relate to this but I feel it's been one of the single greatest challenges trying to raise, educate and entertain youngins right now), to live alone and rely on technology as the only means to human connection, to worry - about health, finances, the state of our country and its lack of leadership. I could go on as there is a LOT that's hard about things right now.

It's held up a mirror... whether you intended to or not, it's been damn near impossible to not take a good long look at yourself and the life you've been living. Maybe you realized it's been far too long since you sat down as a family to enjoy a meal together, maybe your dog bonded to you at a whole new level now that you spend both your days and nights with he/she, maybe you picked up that exercise habit again, or maybe it's brought about some big and even scary questions of - what am I doing? Whatever it's been, the shelter in place and quasi quarantine ever since is giving each and every one of us time to self reflect. How you choose to embrace that is up to you, but the opportunity is there.

It's been a necessary change of pace... I think by now many people are already realizing this and saying to themselves, "my goodness, how was I living like that before?!" And if you haven't said it yet, by the time all this is "done" I do believe there will be at least one thing that never "goes back to the way it was" for you. Like the universe knew it needed to intervene and help each one of us see that something needed to change. It may have been a big hairy change you weren't sure you could've / would've done without this massive push, or a small shift you slowly leaned into by virtue of this quarantine. Either way - life is already different as we know it, and likely won't ever go back to just how it was. So in that regard - this forced "reflective pause" has caused each of us to slow down just enough to see what we've needed to see. What are you seeing as life has slowed a bit?

For me, I think I needed to see, and ultimately love, my life 1000% fully by myself inside the world I've created before I'm meant to partner up with my person. Within 4-6 weeks of being "grounded" I realized how used to being on a plane every other week away for a day or two (or longer) along with the mixed portfolio of services in my businesses (speaking, training, 1:1 coaching, etc) has keep my mind and my life very occupied. And then I filled in the time in between in Austin with friends, dating, home renovations etc. And now it's like the exact opposite. I'm able to focus on the things and people that matter most to me, the city I live in, and while it's a very bizarre and challenging time to be doing so, hold a different focus for dating - one with far more clarity.

By not losing hours and days on airplanes and zipping around city to city, and instead doing all of my work from my beautiful home via zoom, I have so much more time to be intentional with. So when my dog got cancer, I was able to be 100% by his side to get him back to full health. When the siding on my house finally hit its final day, I've been able to pull a plan together for getting that taken care of. And when it came to a friend or family's birthday or any day - I've been super intentional about staying connected - as I have an even greater appreciation now more than ever that my relationships/people ARE my lifeline. And dating, yes, I've used this time to talk to many to gain more and more clarity that it only takes one, yet sadly there are MANY to sift through. However, I only need one and my faith that he's out there, AND I'm finally in a place to recognize him when he appears, is stronger than ever.

So while we're only about five months into what promises to be a long, challenging 2020 I'm already seeing some gifts. And I keep reminding me, and my clients, what you focus on GROWS. So what are you going to look back on and say "2020 was the year I grew ______; and as a result, maybe hindsight really is 2020.