Looking forward: a strategy for striving during COVID?
One of the most effective strategies I know (and use) to maintain hope and a connection to optimism is to schedule events and activities in advance so I can look forward to them. I try to put something on my calendar every 4-6months, something I WANT to do/be/have that I can prepare for and give attention to.
An example of an event I look forward to was an upcoming Women’s Inspiration Retreat. This is a favorite, a powerful event I have hosted annually for a number of years. Cancelling the reservation today was especially hard.
My practice of planning special events to look forward to has been a bit hard these past few months… At first I simply delayed events. I rescheduled events like doctors appointments and teacher training programs and tasks like budgeting (yuck!) for a month later. Surely, things will be better by then.
About three months into this, I started scheduling tasks and events to the next season, Summer… Fall and then WINTER!!! BUT, and this in important, I also added smaller highlights into my weekly schedule: weekly and bi-monthly virtual social appointments to see and hear my friends’ faces and words of encouragement and accountability.
I personally can’t imagine what educators and academic administrators have had to do to sleep at night, let alone make the HARD decisions regarding their student populations and communities.
As one mom confessed to me, “I’m so glad my son is back IN school.” Indicating that the break from being a full-time mom and primary teacher was much needed. ESPECIALLY if the re-opening shifts to re-closing and we have to #beginagain. We all need space for pause and reset. Finding that space has been hard!
With this renewed connection to my Circle, I have been able to move forward with more clarity and confidence. So that more recently, I’ve been clearer about determining what needs to simply be cancelled and what needs to go forward but with a new structure. Funnily enough, I have renewed hope by activating Plan B, or is it Plan Q by now?
How are you balancing the shifts of life during these times? How have you been able to stay afloat emotionally, financially, and socially?
What can you schedule or create as something to look forward to in the coming 6 months?
