One of the gifts that I’ve been given during this covid-19 season is the gift of time — I’m sure it’s true for many of us. For me, it has been a time to reflect on life and its meaning, evaluate my faith and personal life, assess my relationships with family, friends, business, clients, and peers and how I can improve those relationships.
As I have spent time reflecting, one thing that continually comes to my mind is the restlessness that I felt in 2018 and 2019. For two years, I experienced turmoil in my spirit that wouldn’t go away. It was a deep feeling that something was approaching, and no matter how much I tried to shake that feeling, make sense of it, or pray, it wouldn’t go away. The feeling was so strong and recurrent that it paralyzed my planning. I found myself unable to see the future clearly or to plan for it with confidence.
Well, early this year, as is my annual habit, I reviewed my previous year’s goals and made adjustments to my 5-year goals for my virtual assistant business. I wrote them down, but they didn’t resonate with me. Somehow the future seemed foggy because of the restlessness I felt inside remained unrelenting. Needless to say, with everything that has happened in the last 6-7 weeks it all makes sense.
My conclusion is that in my spirit, I was sensing that the major shift that was coming that would change much of how we do life and business. No wonder, my 5-year goals didn’t resonate! How would anyone’s plans and goals ever have taken into account the unprecedented events that would take place just three months into 2020?
Another thing that I’ve been reflecting on (as you can see, I have had plenty of time to think) is how towards the end of last year, the restlessness that I had felt for two years changed to a sense of urgency. I felt like the world was spinning out of control, and something was going to give if things continued in the same way. I felt like something significant, maybe even catastrophic, would happen if the world didn’t stop spinning. And what was apparent at that time was that our “busyness” is what was out of control. We humans had become extremely busy, always rushing at lightning speed to someplace, 24-7. Our “busyness” had become second nature. We couldn’t help ourselves but be busy. It’s all we knew, regardless of whether our “busyness” bore any fruit. We had become too busy to the detriment of our most important relationships – Our relationships with our Creator, our loved ones, and our fellow man. Many feel that God hit the reset button to take us back to the basics. The things that matter: faith, family, health, relationships with fellow humankind. I feel the same way too.
I know this pandemic has brought so much pain, loss, devastation, fear, uncertainty, and even hopelessness, but I am one who always looks for the light in the darkness. I search for the silver lining in the cloud. I look for what I can be grateful for because there’s always something to be thankful for, no matter what we are going through. If we take a moment to pause, we will see that we are blessed.
So, I’m thankful for the gift of time, and I am also grateful for the reset. The world came to a screeching halt because we needed it. It’s out of God’s grace and providence, that we have been given this sacred gift to reset, rest, re-align, and restart.
As we rest and recharge, we realize that the things that really, truly matter in this life are not that many, and they are not that complicated. It’s the little things and the simple things that make life meaningful and beautiful. We now have a clean slate to re-align our values and restart, with new insight, perspective, and wisdom.
The question is, what will you do differently? What did you take for granted in the past that you plan to value and appreciate more? Who do you want to be or become as we come out of this season?
For me, I want to love deeply and fearlessly. I want to fulfill my life’s purposes to the best of my ability. I want to be the best mom that I can be. I want to help mothers start their virtual assistant businesses so that they can work from home, be the best moms they can be, and make a good living while at it. I want to be the best friend, sister, daughter, and niece that I can be. I realize that time is a gift. I don’t want to take it for granted. I want to enjoy and maximize the time that I have been given.