As I review this past month, I am aware that I experienced a paradox in the way I perceive time. For me, it felt like time simultaneously went quickly and stood still. It was such a surreal feeling to wake up each day and remember that the world had changed. My kids were studying at home, my husband was working from home. I was still coaching my clients. And I was still connecting with family and friends, but through Zoom or passing people as I went for a daily walk or run, but of course keeping a 6 feet gap between us. Getting groceries felt like a scary new learning curve.
In a month with much less activity than usual, I feel like I learned a lot and changed the way I see some things. I watched some documentaries that friends had recommended. It made me realize how manipulated we, the general public, can be by pop culture, entertainment and media campaigns. There are so many sources of information and they all come with an agenda. It is hard, as a consumer of information, to know what to believe. Normally life is so busy that we don't have time to really question ideas and values that we are bombarded with, but this month I had some time to ponder some of the bigger questions in life. Some questions that I thought about were: "How do I want to be as a citizen of the world?" "How do I want to be as a consumer after this pandemic?" " What is really important to me?""What is essential in my life?" How will I be changed by this experience of living in a pandemic?" "What is important for me to learn from this?"
I don't know that I have all the answers to these questions, but I am thinking about them. Even considering these questions is shifting my perspective on many things. I am grateful for having the time to think about these things. I have more clarity about what it is that I want for myself in life.
One of the things I had set out to do this month was to start writing another book. I was inspired by my client who wrote her book in 1 week. I also have several other clients writing books and some of them have completed or are nearing completion of their masterpieces. I am so inspired by all of them. This weekend I am participating in an online writer's retreat to write a book in a weekend. I have the experience of writing a book in week. I am not sure if I will write a book in a weekend, but I am excited to try. The concept of this retreat is to be very open and write the book that emerges from us by getting into a flow state and writing quickly, using our right brains. I think that I am going to be writing the sequel to my first novel, Gypsy Dreams, but I will see what emerges. This feels like an exciting challenge and I am curious about what my experience will be. I will report on this experiment in my next blog post on May 4th.
What about you? What was your experience of April? What have you learned about yourself this month? What is something positive you are taking from this difficult time? Please share any of your great ideas or learnings you have discovered. You could be a great source of inspiration for others. You can share in the comments below, in our Weekly ONE Thing Facebook Group or on Facebook or any other social media. I look forward to reading your posts! Below is the link to the Weekly ONE Thing Group
And stay tuned for my MAP- May post on the first Monday of May which is May the 4th (May the 4th be with you)! We will keep going with, "My Amazing-Year Plan," mapping things out month by month and creating a wonderful year for ourselves (in spite of any challenges)!