When I think about the COVID-19 pandemic and the stay-at-home quarantine that we are now experiencing, it feels strangely similar to the time when I had a bad fall a few years ago. While walking one early evening with Max, my Terrier dog, another dog owner approached close by. Unfortunately, his dog did not have a leash and immediately lunged at Max. I had to do everything I possibly could to protect him. To make a long story short, I fell during the process and sustained a terrible injury to my mouth; it resulted in 33 stitches and the loss of two teeth.

The dog’s leash wrapped around my legs and I fell face down and sustained a terrible injury to my mouth. It resulted in 33 stitches and the loss of two teeth. This unfortunate incident forced me to sit back, catch my breath, and reevaluate my life.

To make good use of my time while sequestered at home, I decided to start keeping a journal to help make sense of the events, put my life into proper perspective, and formulate a new vision for the future.

My untimely accident made me wonder if the last three months have offered any of you the opportunity to catch your breath in the same way. Of course, life during a world pandemic is harder in so many ways. It’s not solely about us as individuals; it is the tragedy that the whole world is going through while watching the grim news hour after hour on our TV, tablets, and phone screens.

The one thing that the shutdown is forcing all of us to do, however, is to hit “pause” on the way we used to live. It is also giving us more free time to reexamine our lives. For most everyone, our schedules are cleared, we have fewer distractions, and we can no longer hide behind the excuse of “I’m just too busy!” 

Since many of you now have extra moments to reflect, have you noticed that both good and bad things are coming to the surface and being exposed? The familiar patterns and insecurities in the way we do things magically appear when we slow down enough to think about them, right? Our rhythms, habits, desires, and underlying worries are all magnified during these types of traumatic situations.

This process is certainly not an easy one because it makes us feel uncomfortable to think and rethink about our core values. How we decide to make this work, however, is valuable and important, so it is worth a little discomfort. Are you exhibiting these same feelings in your life? If so, ask yourself these questions:  What will we learn from this? What changes will we make because of this? What do we want to keep about this slowed-down pace? What are we excited to get back to?

My Little Art Practice

Can you relate to this drawing? Does it feel like you need to hang on to your life because things are changing and it feels totally out of your control?

In the midst of worrying about catching the virus as well as its economic impact on our lives, let’s make an effort to catch our collective breaths, look for beauty and goodness, and accept the reality that we are going to have to reset to a “new normal.” Someday, I hope that we can look back and see how the time we spent during the COVID-19 quarantine helped us to pivot our lives in the direction of becoming not only more caring and giving persons, but also ones who have developed a strong sense of purpose for improving social consciousness in our world.

I’d love to hear your viewpoint on what the new normal might look like for you. Please leave me a comment below.