Living in New York City we have now been given a new date to stay at home. I knew we would revisit staying at home till May 15th, but somehow when Governor Cuomo said it out loud it landed like a thud. Oh no? Really? Another four weeks or more? And honestly, what will it look like going back outside near people, in elevators, down halls? Will I ever do public transportation again? So many questions were swirling through my head. I decided I needed to take it one day at a time and not look at the whole picture all at once. It just was too much to wrap my head around!

I have been trying to re-imagine what life will look like moving forward. Will workplaces stagger their employees or more will find that they can just work from home? Will schools ever re-open and when they do will they keep students far apart from one another? Will people go to restaurants and will they be able to sustain themselves if they have to have fewer patrons? How will the world as I knew it change? How have I changed? Now that we have paused in life we may have had time to reflect on our lives and what we consider truly important. We have been spending more time with our families. Usually, we are busy, busy, busy, running from here to there and only having superficial conversations with each other. How are you? Now we might ask, “ How are you……really?” I often talked with my clients about looking at their lives and prioritizing what is most important to them and managing their time. So what have you found is most important to you?

I have found the quality of my relationships has deepened. I also see who is important to me and whom I need to connect with, like oxygen! It’s like Joni Mitchell’s song Big Yellow Taxi –

 

Don’t it always seem to go

That you don’t know what you’ve got

Till it’s gone

Let’s not miss out on something till it’s gone. Let’s pay attention during this pause and reflect on what is, grow from what we have learned and move forward in a new connected way with each other. I want to continue to stay connected within myself, connected to my loved ones, connected to my friends, and my community. I want to continue to live in Gratitude paying attention to my breath and not taking it for granted. I want to continue to play into my strength of Love, Spirituality, and learning and growing. These are my top character strengths that always help me get through so that I can always come back better and stronger than I was after a challenging time. This will be life-altering for the entire world. What do you imagine for yourself? What is most important to you?