It’s been a pretty crazy few months, hasn’t it?
With lockdowns easing and many of us preparing for a slow normalizing (or semi-normalizing) of routines it’s an ideal moment for reflection. We have a rare and fleeting opportunity to consider how we have been spending our time — a moment where we still have more control over our time than ever, but we are likely to see that change in the coming weeks and months.
So, what did you do with your time?
If you’re like me, you had lots of thoughts and beliefs about what you would do during quarantine. And if you’re like me, you may have been surprised by some of the things you actually did (I radically expanded my cooking repertoire and even made veal sweetbreads) as well as the things you did not do (I did not read any fiction or play any music — things I was confident would make the cut).
There were other surprises as well… not all of them were great: I read the news a lot and started going onto social media daily — very disappointing. There were unexpected realizations: I like waking up early, but I’m more effective mentally, physically, and emotionally with a later sleep/wake schedule.
I’d like to encourage you to take advantage of this unusual moment in history — we probably won’t get another one quite like it…
-What things did you think you would do, but never actually felt like doing?
-What things did you spend your time doing and which of those brought you joy?
-What things do you wish you’d spent less time doing?
-If it were day one and you could start all over what would you have done differently and what would you keep the same?
It’s okay if you didn’t do all (or any) of the things you thought you would; maybe you’re just not that into those things or hadn’t adequately prepared your environment to facilitate those actions. But also take stock of the things you spent a lot of time doing that didn’t feel worth it.
For many of us, this will be a re-centering of values. And even if you feel like you didn’t make the most of it you can begin to shape your future environment and behaviors with what you’ve learned about yourself. When this is all over we can look back at this as time we lost or we can see it as a pivotal moment in our self-improvement. Let’s all make it the latter.
