How will you be After Covid (AC)? How is your life different—better—than Before Covid (BC)?
Most of us long for the return to a (mostly) BC lifestyle. A life where we can go places and be around people without the concern of a possible deadly virus lurking nearby waiting to attach to our cells.
Most people I know have thoughts—some even a list—of what they are going to do AC. They’ve been storing up multiple “when I can, I’m going to…” items. That makes sense. That makes sense now, but also made sense BC. Shouldn’t everyone always have a list of things they want to do–a list of things they love to do?
What I wonder right now is, how have you made yourself better during Covid? Yes, I know there were thousands of articles/posts/stories about taking advantage of lockdown and doing something good, great, or amazing. Then after a few months, I saw posts lambasting productivity posts and how they were often just a popularity post rather than a true hope to motivate people to do great things.
I can say that I’ve done a few cool improvements in my life. I can say my wife has bettered herself as well by taking music lessons, etc. But of course, neither of us had grand plans to write a novel or create some new business venture.
I would say that during lockdown we really concentrated on having stable, solid days. Making sure we had some structure to our lives. We implemented replacements to many of our BC activities (home spinning bike, home gym workout, better webcams, more time on Kanopy, Great Courses, Curiosity Stream, etc).
I also found the time to help others, most often it was through using zoom for online meetings and making sure people could come together to get some inter-personal communication.
I wrote earlier about my experiment with Intermittent Fasting and the surprising results. I spent time sitting (or running/biking) and thinking about the good things in my life. I’ve always had a sense of gratitude, but this year, as much as other years, I’ve tried to be even more grateful for my life.
Early on I wrote about working to Make Progress. Grow. Learn. Improve.
At this point (maybe halfway through the pandemic?) I give myself about a “B” for the whole.
I really wish I could give myself an A-, but I found that I improved on many things, and sat back and reflected in gratitude (which is a nice plus in itself).
I have more I can improve on, and I will, but I have no plans to go out all and become some super-person. Actually, I’ve never had that goal, and “you are who you are.”
I have been making my AC list of things to do. Some of them I should have done BC, like two trips to visit old friends and explore a little, but that’s OK. I believe we’ll all be safe and can meet up again.
We did some projects around the house. Some projects were planned and others were not. We just decided to go ahead and get some stuff done. Get to work on some things.
I really have learned—not because of the Covid, but in general—that life can change at any time with a visit to the doctor, for yourself or your family/friends. Enjoy your days NOW!!!
*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice. I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be. You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.