What Is Your Particular Challenge Now and How Are You Going to Deal with It?
“Each of us has to figure out what our particular challenges are and then determine how to get through them, at the current moment in time” (Prof. George Bonnano).
Life isn’t static. For this reason, I find myself changing opinions, perspectives, methods every now and then. So, when I read the previous quote, I realized how things have changed so much in the last few months. My habits aren’t the same I’d worked so hard to create during so many years — and that had worked for so long. My systems are being re-evaluated.
The important thing is that my methods and means have changed, but my core beliefs and values grow stronger. My inner compass is still there. Building a life worth living is still my North. And, in this uncertain world we live in, better detach as much as possible to what we know can change in 180º.
This is how my day to day looks like. I have my board for current projects and tasks. At the beginning of the week, I try to plan my activities and where I want to focus my attention. We’re still getting rid of the smoke screen left by our burnout. As a consequence, sometimes I focus in just a few things and sometimes in nothing at all. Week after week we refine our objectives with the intention of precisely lifting that screen. This week for instance, our goal was to remove obstacles little by little.
With that in mind, two weeks ago we started exercising again. This week we practiced yoga for the first time in months. We are hoping next week we’ll go back to our official yoga classes — online of course. Little by little we’ve been decluttering and cleaning our physical and digital spaces, as well as reorganizing and re-prioritizing our family projects. On a different front, I don’t keep — for now — my morning ritual nor I have a formal system for working. There are no predetermined schedules. My current method is more “go with the flow.”
I still believe in the importance of habits and systems, though. However, my particular challenge at this moment in time is to adapt.
“Many, many resilient people learn to carefully accept what they can’t change about a situation and then ask themselves what they can actually change” (Dr. Steven Southwick).
I have no idea where I would be on a scale of resilience. Nonetheless, I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately. Something tells me I can find some clues there to help me face relevant challenges nowadays.
This could be the beginning. We got burnout. Since the pandemic, we’ve struggled to keep activities valuable to us. Consistency everywhere has been shaky. What happened happened. It’s out of my control. Not only that, I can’t go back and change it.
What can I do now? I can find a system that adapts to my current needs. It seems the world is trying to go back to a certain kind of “normal.” But, the coronavirus has come to stay with us for years. What concerns me will still be my personal care and health. Those are my priorities. Therefore, where can I find a middle ground, a balance? I guess we’ll be figuring it out minute by minute, and you’ll be the first to know.
