Keeping Humanity and Humour in our Lives, Part 2
Change is inevitable; this too shall pass.
I originally started this article as we were approaching the Thanksgiving Holiday in the United States. It is now three months past this time and close to the one year anniversary of the both the WHO declaring a pandemic and my Part 1 article.
A lot has changed and much has been discovered/learned since I wrote one of my first articles on Medium at the start of the global pandemic.
Keeping Humanity and Humour in our Lives, Part 2
I will remember March 2020 as the month that “normal” broke. But “normal” had been breaking in the US for a long time — the pandemic just accelerated the process. With the pace of change and events in 2020, I am reminded of the 1989 Billy Joel song, “We Didn’t Start The Fire”.
I am sure you lived through a lot of change this past year. For us and many people this was a year of:
- Loss — family, friends, freedom, and a sense of safety.
- Unknowns — information changing daily and inability to predict or plan for the future.
- Change — job loss, job change, work-from-home, moving to a new house or city, at-home schooling, new schools, and a new president.
- Fear — infections, disease, deaths, riots, and general fear over our personal or financial safety.
I cannot capture all the emotions and events of this past year. Nor could I in an even longer article as it is individual for each of us.
The past is not as important as the present and our plan for the future.
We all have missed out on many of our normal activities and daily routines. But where do we plan to go from here?
With all these changes comes the opportunity to change for the better.
At work, I have a new boss. My daughter is in her second semester of college. My wife and I have now had our first shot of COVID-19 vaccine and life may equilibrate to a new normal in the next month or so. But what will the new normal will be like?
There were many good things that came out of the pandemic including:
- Work from home becoming accepted, allowing people to chose to live in a different area from their company’s office.
- Individuals choosing to re-balance their work-life based on being home with their family and/or pets.
- Rediscovering health through outside exercise such as walking, running, or bicycling either individually or in small groups.
- Developing a new gratitude for being able to be together with friends or family after endless zoom calls.
How will you use 2021 as a time to change for the better? Will your “new normal” be a better normal?
For me personally, I continue to downsize and reduce my possessions so I have more time and resources for travel and time with family and friends. I am still removing “habits” that waste my time or energy so that I can do more of what I enjoy.
For me 2021 will continue to be a year of change. I plan to use this time to fulfill goals and explore new opportunities. One of my key goals includes my financial transformation in the next couple years to where I can retire from my full time job and have more flexibility in my life.
What will you do in 2021 to make your life and your world a better place?
Disclaimer: This article expresses the author’s opinions and views based on his personal and professional experience. Any views or opinions represented in this article are solely the responsibility of the author and do not represent those of people, institutions, or organizations where the author is associated in a professional or personal capacity, unless explicitly stated. The author reserves the right to change his opinions based on his future experiences … because if we can’t try, learn and become our better selves, why are we here?
