The enormous impact of the Coronavirus on our lives is something we will unfortunately have to get used to; it may even be the new norm for many months ahead. The depth and breadth of the knock-on effect of work and school closures, social distancing, self-isolation and wondering if a cough could be ‘it’ cannot be underestimated, and let’s not even think about guestimating how long this may go on. Do we really want to know?! Andif we did, what would we do differently now?

It’s hard to make decisions, should you wait for more information, do you cancel plans now, fearing the worst, or do you hope for the best?
Do you practice social distancing, keep calm and carry on as normal or something in-between? You know what’s best.

As you know, I’m not a doctor or health professional, heaven forbid! So I’m going to leave the sobering stuff in the paragraphs above to those that know best and move on to what I am good at…dropping a dose of inspiration and motivation into your mailbox every Saturday.

It’s About the Give and Take

So, I get it, you’re pi**ed off, we all are. What has COVID-19 stolen from you or taken away? Write down everything that has directly impacted you on one side of a piece of paper and put a number alongside each one (we will go babck to this later).

Besides the obvious freedom of movement and freedom of choice, perhaps you are no longer allowed access to your office, you have a mandatory ‘work from home’ in place, perhaps you and your family have a much anticipated meeting, tournament, concert, trip, or even something as simple as your early morning workout is cancelled. The knock-on effect, in all areas of our lives is of gargantuan proportions.

I’m sorry your plans have been cancelled, I’m sorry for the disappointment and frustration; we all know how long it takes to research, plan, design and execute our plans, and life in general. We spend so long looking forward to something and through no fault of your own it has been taken away. It sucks.

For as much as the Coronavirus takes away, has it given you anything? Yes, that’s right…given. If so, write it down on the other side of the paper. Can you think of as many positive gives as negative takes? If not, try and even up the numbers.

Perhaps you enjoy working at home, you don’t have to hear chatty Kathy talk about her cat, maybe you don’t have to get up quite so early, perhaps your commute has been slashed in half. Perhaps you can juggle childcare and not have to pay for a nanny while the kids are off school.

Now, let’s focus in for one moment on something the Coronavirus *may* have given you but you hadn’t thought about… TIME and OPPORTUNITY.

TIME, such a precious commodity, something so precious that when in short supply we treasure it as if our lives and sanity depend on it, and sometimes they do.
OPPORTUNITY knocks when time allows.

How will you use your time to create opportunities you may not have had?

You know me, ever the optimist, so I got thinking…

I can’t do anything about the cancellations, so what can I do with the extra time? I started to make a list, and I realized that I actually have things to look forward to. In fact, I’m rather excited about having the time to write, workout, cook some new recipes etc. etc. My list is long, and it involves all aspects of my life: career, family, health, planning, to name a few, and of course not forgetting to do my taxes (audible sigh). If you’d like to see it, let me know.

Make a Plan

Now, I want you to get a new sheet of paper (if you’re old school 😉) or get your phone out and write a list of the things you plan to do with your newly gifted time, remember, it’s precious. How do you make the most of the new norm? Whether you are staying at home or venturing out, the choice is yours.
Here are a few suggestions to help you get started.

• Find a workout to do at home or take yourself outside, there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. I’m taking classes outside this week, join us in the parks. You can also find some no equipment/hotel room workouts on the F&N YouTube channel
• Have you read the Flourish and Nourish blog post ‘If Today Were Your Last? If not, perhaps now is a great time. It’s all about creating your bucket list, a fun, eye opening and extremely worthwhile activity which can be done on your own or with your partner/family. You can find it here
• Contact a friend and have that long overdue chinwag.
• Organize a happy hour, support a local establishment or hold one at home. Happy hours can happen any time of day and can involve anything if whatever you are doing makes you happy. Tea and cake anyone?
• Plan something with your family, a board game, play cards.
• Do your taxes!
• Organize your files/folders/photos
• Bake a cake.
• Try a new recipe.
• Try out a new restaurant. Support our local restaurants, some are quoting table numbers down by as much as 70%. Most restaurants have a two-month financial buffer before they run into trouble. Don’t want to eat in? Use Door Dash or Uber Eats to deliver.
• Plan ahead. Now is a great time to plan something ahead of time, draft up your Memorial Day BBQ invitation list, plan the food and make a grocery list. When the time comes you will be so glad you did!
• Do you have any outstanding admin?
• Photo Filing. Are your family photos in one place? Mine neither!
• Read a book. Take the 2 hours you were due to have at a meeting, grab a book, hunker down and enjoy.
• Find a new Podcast
• Clear out your closet while listening to your new podcast
• Limit time scrolling on social media. I recently saw a great quote ‘waste time wisely’. Enough said.

 If you completed the exercise, how do you feel?  Are you in a more positive mindset?

We can’t do anything about the situation, but we can change the way we think about our situation. Reframing the negative into positive will change the trajectory of the next few weeks and months.

Let’s get started, shall we?
Zoe