Wow. Seemingly in the blink of an eye, our whole world changed. We’re facing a situation none of us have ever seen in our lifetime. This is something we don’t have a strongly developed skillset to call upon. No wise person who has been there before and can tell us what to do to get through it. Each passing day seems to reveal a new restriction or a new cancellation.

And a lot of us are struggling, either mentally or financially, or more often than not, both. At this point, we’ve all been affected in some way, whether seeing an anticipated event vanish from the calendar or being told filing for unemployment is our next best option. There’s no delicate way to put this — it sucks.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t pout for a while (read: days). As a planner, I was frustrated. I felt helpless and depressed, and quite frankly, not really knowing what to do with my hands (other than furiously wash them). But then, I remembered a lot of how we feel about a situation is how we view the situation.

We can sit and ruminate about all the things we can’t do,
or we can look at the opportunities now present to us.

We can sit and ruminate about all the things we can’t do, or we can look at the opportunities now present to us. Filling our lives with less events opens us to the possibility to explore the “someday” plans. An open calendar is just that…open. We’re free to explore the thoughts we’ve stowed away and the paths not traveled because they weren’t practical. Sure we’ve been thrown from our comfort zone, but is that necessarily bad?

Instead of focusing on the to-do lists that aren’t getting done, we’re invited to the unique opportunity to work our dreams. Write the book we’ve kinda sorta dreamed about doing but never found the time to take pen to paper. Connect on a deeper level with our friends and families, expanding our creativity on how we define “fun” and “a good day.”

Introverts — it’s our time to shine. It’s socially acceptable for us to dive into our bookshelves, our fitness goals, our creative projects…whatever we’re usually abandoning for the sake of showing face.

Extroverts — it’s the time to get creative on what and how to get social recharge. We are so lucky that something of this nature is happening at this particular part of history. Most of us have technology right at our fingertips making it easier than ever to connect. We can FaceTime, watch live videos together or hangout virtually.

This period of time can either tear us apart or bring us closer together in ways we never imagined. We’ve seen some of the worst of ourselves in the past few weeks, hoarding toilet paper (why?!) and groceries. But we’ve also seen some of the best of ourselves, musicians hosting nightly Facebook Live shows, people offering to get groceries for vulnerable populations, the endless memes to just get us to laugh for a second, the virtual dance parties…there’s so much good right now if we just look for it.

Just remember, that like all things, this too will pass.
This isn’t forever, even if it sometimes feels like it.