As I mentioned in my last post about all the changes we are experiencing seemingly all at the same time, I want to remind you (and myself) this is a marathon, not a sprint. In other words, you are not expected to nor should you expect yourself to have it all together overnight. We are dealing with challenges on every side - health, financial, and societal. You will have to make adjustments and while you are doing so give yourself some grace and perspective…
Like I referenced, in the previous post, we are now settling into the “new normal.” The old way of doing things is gone! And the adrenaline of temporary survival is now giving way to the stamina of restructuring for long term success. Sprints are short runs that take a burst of energy and then are done. You don’t need much prep and can pull on all your energy to make a quick victory. But marathons are a whole other endeavor. You must train for a marathon. You must prepare. You must have stamina and endurance to make it to the end. However, to build stamina or even momentum you have to slow down. You have to make some changes to your routine. You have to focus. And you have to rest. Not just sleep, but actual rest. Rest in your mind, body, and spirit. These requirements are not easy to achieve nor maintain in a 24-hour news and entertainment world that gets such pleasure in keeping you captive in distraction and chaos, but they are not impossible.
Let’s start with rest. In the Bible, we are mandated to take the Sabbath and keep it holy by resting (Exodus 35:2). It is to teach discipline, trust, and sustainability. Unfortunately in the West, we don’t always honor that command and instead encourage a go, go, go mindset of “productivity” and stress. In America, the Puritan/Protestant work ethic has evolved into a competition of “busy.” We judge ourselves and each other by work and status - Consequently the first thing you ask someone new is “What do you do?” We determine someone’s value (and even our own) by monetary gain. Hence why the most important aspects of our society - teachers, nurses, and those whom we now realize are essential - are underappreciated and therefore underpaid. These mindsets and habits lead to lives full of stress, anxiety, and illness. And now that we all had to stop entertaining those notions because our routines were interrupted by Coronavirus, there’s a growing resistance to going back to the toxicity and bondage of the past. And that’s great! If we are looking for ways Coronavirus has impacted us positively, this is one. It gave millions of people worldwide the opportunity to examine their lives, families, and work and make some necessary changes. And one major component is rest. How we are choosing to spend our time and take care of ourselves needs to change and we have to sleep, and rest better and with more intentionality.
Next is focus. What you are choosing to focus on has to shift. At the beginning of the pandemic, we all were glued to the news to figure out what the virus was, how it spread, and how to combat it. Several months later that level of attention is unsustainable as we are all realizing life is happening and moving on. There are bills to pay. Children to raise. And responsibilities to manage. But how do you change focus? By re-prioritizing your values. Examining what you profess to value versus how you spent your time and resources. Then deciding what you will do moving forward? For example, I may prior to the virus, say I really value my family. But an analysis of my time showed I spent the majority of it hanging out with friends or at work. Now, the interruption that Coronoavirus gave allows me to re-allocate my time and give more preference to time with family, as we ease into our “new normal.” Focusing on how you will better utilize your time and resources will allow you to build up the necessary energy and stamina to sustain.
Lastly, your routine has to change. To run a marathon you have to make adjustments to your daily routine to be prepared. I am working on this part a lot right now. Some of the habits I had prior to the virus were fine. The habits I picked up during the initial stages of the virus - Nextflix and chill - are not going to help me as much now that we are shifting to our “new normal.” I have to reallocate my schedule to prepare for and sustain success (bye-bye Netflix!) And that is just one example. I also picked up a better eating habit and better exercise habits those will stay and evolve. Examining your routine is something you should always be doing but in the mindset of a pandemic, it’s easy to forget the basics. And that’s ok.
You are surviving a multi-tiered crisis that has no clear end in sight. But to keep surviving we have to change our perspective from short term (sprints) to long term (marathon). What will your life look like at the end of 2020? How can you leverage the rest of the year to achieve it? How can you position yourself so that your family can be in a better place in spite of all that has happened? What about future generations? Keep going and keep growing! You can do this! We can do this! Let’s go! The marathon continues!