By Christina Raccuia
For many of us, this crisis has forced us to change direction. Many of my friends and patients have lost jobs, businesses, investments, and loved ones. Familiar routines are gone, and the security many people felt before was gone in an instant.
While there is a great deal of tragedy in the pandemic—and I don’t want to be careless about the reality and loss many people are experiencing—there is another reality that is beginning to emerge from the pandemic. Perhaps this crisis presents an unexpected opportunity.
Is it possible to find a silver lining in the dark cloud of COVID-19?
We are now more than 3 1/2 months into our own Control-Alt-Delete experience of sheltering at home. Adrenaline might still be high from the sudden change, but maybe our minds are calm enough to evaluate and reconsider.
Could we harness this unexpected and unwanted crisis and tame it for a better future for us and our families? One thing is for sure, things will never be the same. The only real question is, how will they be different for you?
- Life Really Is More.
Life is more than earning a ton of money, more than pursuing vain success, and so much more than amassing material possessions.
For some of us, what we have been chasing has been stripped away in an instant—and now we are left with a longing for what is truly important. Others of us have now been forced to hit the pause button long enough to let the dust settle in our lives and see what a mess we’re making.
For me, it’s more clear than ever that life is found in love for others, in kindness and generosity, in relationships with family and friends, and in the pursuit of my spirituality and self care.
I have to find a way to remove what is distracting me from these essential things and continue to hear this call clearly even when things return “back to normal.” Life is so much more.
- Life Is To Be Lived—Right Now. No More Waiting.
Life was moving at a blistering pace when the virus hit and slowed things down in a hurry. The good thing is—it has been driving home the importance of living now and not just waiting to live later.
Later might never come. Or perhaps even worse, it might come and I wasted years getting there. It’s too easy to just let life happen to us.
The virus has helped me to be more grateful for what I have, for the important work I get to do, for the health I have to do it, and for the resources I have to live simply with the ones I love around me.
My new normal cannot be filled with wasted effort or trivial pursuits. Regardless of how much time and energy I spent building my old life, if a better one presents itself, I must choose it.
However many more days, weeks, or years I am afforded, I want them to be lived on purpose with purpose.
How about you?
