Whew. Just in the nick of time, the world is beginning to open back up. Our imaginations have run wild wondering what could be coming next. But finally! A light at the end of a long dark tunnel, and thank God, it is not a train!

But there is something worse than a worldwide Pandemic.

The ‘something worse’ than a worldwide Pandemic is wasting a worldwide Pandemic. 

Sure, we have wasted stuff before. Most of us have at least one book on our shelves that we have read at some time in our history but now could not summarize the author’s main point if our life depended on it. Why did we read it? Or maybe we attended a day-long seminar, and were too busy to review our notes, so we never applied anything, and therefore pretty much everything was totally forgotten.  Why did we go?

But waste a Pandemic? Holy biological crisis! If we don’t stop and think about our takeaways, (at least one), all of this suffering will have been pointless. When the pressure of this past year fades away, we’ll have nothing to challenge our little behaviors, question our choices, or tighten up our time management. Never again will we have something that forces our values up close and personal, so we can take a good look at them. It is so easy to go through life by habit––to not think about what we are doing.

Quick! Before this crucible fades away into distant memory:  What is your takeaway?  If you were to compare yourself before COVID (BC), and after COVID (AC), would there be any noticeable difference? Do you have evidence of growth and change?

Many of my personal takeaways have taken the form of questions, as follows :

If COVID has done anything, it has burst any illusion of control. All plans, no matter how great, can be turned upside down in an instant. Moving forward, how can I build contingency into every plan?

The Pandemic turned our world upside down. But it wasn’t the CEO’s and billionaires who saved us. It was the nurses, the janitors, and those stocking the shelves. How can I consciously see and honor those who were once invisible to us to help make the world a more equitable place for all? 

We have bodies. We can’t ignore them. Despite how powerful we think we are, our lives are vulnerable and fragile. How can I honor this vulnerability? How can I become more physically resilient?

The crucible of COVID has had enormous ramifications for mental health. We don’t like to sit alone with our thoughts. How can I become more mentally resilient?

During the Pandemic, did I see tragedy or opportunity? I need to learn to suffer well–to accept suffering and not become hardened by it. How can I live life, not with closed arms or grasping fists, but with an open palm?

Tech is a tool. It is not who we are. Our purpose is not inside our phones or on our laptops. We are more than our technology. How can I incorporate more planned breaks from technology into my life?

COVID forced us to rethink work in a radically different way. Some of this is for the better and will never return to the old way of doing things. How can I challenge myself to find better ways of doing things before I am forced to do it?

Working from home became more complicated than going to work. How can I incorporate more radical simplicity into my life? 

Past Pandemics have supplied us with some of the greatest works of art, literature, and music the world has ever known. How can I transform the struggle into works of truth, goodness, and beauty?

We have experienced neither the first plague nor the last. For entrepreneurs, it is neither the first small business disaster, nor is it the last. Our very act of resilience now tempers us for future resilience. Through the Pandemic, we have had opportunity to learn things that could not be learned in any other way. There is an urgency to these things. The window will soon close, and our take away will fade away into the tyranny of the urgent.

What is your one big takeaway?

What one thing have you learned, that if you applied it to your life going forward,  would supply you with future flourishing and future resilience?

Share it with us on our Facebook Page. We’ll choose the best answer to receive a “Resilience Kit” on the last day of this month. A $50.00 value, and it contains Chocolate. Enough said.

You are going to rock this recovery. I just know it.

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