I don’t need to tell you how much our lives have changed in the last month. How strange social distancing is or that now, going to the grocery store is like being in a sci-fi movie. All of us wearing our masks, and trying so hard to say six feet a part. But in all of this, I do feel like there is one thing I need to say.
Friend, the rules have changed.
Many of the ones we’ve followed daily for as long as we can remember, no longer apply. The expectations of others or ourselves that say we have to do things a certain way. The ones that tell us productivity is the only way we can prove our worth. And the rules that have us feeling rushed each morning and guilty every night—because we didn’t accomplish all the things we used to. These rules are no longer in effect.
If running a race is a metaphor for living, then COVID-19 has plucked us all off the track and put us on treadmills.
Though many of us aren’t runners, pressure from our culture or families has caused us to race through our lives, striving to succeed. And if running a race is a metaphor for living, then COVID-19 has plucked us all off the track and put us on treadmills.
We’re not going anywhere, but we’re still running.
We still feel the pressure we felt a month ago, to do all the things and to do them just as well. Only that is no longer possible. In times of crisis, the rules change. We cannot do what we’ve been doing. Nor should we try.
Though there are a million bloggers and social influencers out there, telling you now is the time to learn the thing you’ve always wanted to, to finish that house project, or to somehow improve you—don’t listen. A crisis is not the time for self-improvement. It’s not the time to strive.
A crisis is not the time for self-improvement. It’s not the time to strive.
Growing up, a number of crises hit our family. Chances are, your family had their fair share of them too. The most important life lesson I learned from those times, is that in crisis, the only thing we need to do—the only thing we can do—is to
Show up the best we can.
Emotions and all, thrown off by our new routines, and concerned about our loved ones, our biggest responsibility right now, is to get up in the morning and live each day the best we can. We don’t need to do anything else. If we have a string of hard days where it feels like we didn’t get anything done—but we did our best—it’s ok.
Nothing right now is going as planned for any of us. There won’t be a report we have to write at the end of this, detailing all we’ve accomplished. And truly, other than our bosses, we are only accountable to ourselves and our loved ones.
Our biggest responsibility right now, is to get up in the morning and live each day the best we can.
So sure, if you get tired of watching TV and actually have some downtime where you can think—do that house project, learn something new, or take some time for self care. But friends, don’t try to follow the rules of pre-pandemic life, believing you still have to do it all.
The rules have changed. Take a deep breath. Just do your best.
What have you still been trying to do as if we’re not in the middle of a pandemic?
What pressures have you been feeling to “do it all?”
Feeling a little adrift in this strange, new normal of being at home? Sign up for my email list and get your free copy of my Social Distancing Survival Guide: Everyday Routines. Sign up here.
