First and foremost, I’d like to send positive thoughts for health and wellness your way.
My aim with this post is to draw constructive and optimistic points amid the challenges of our global Covid-19 fight. In no way the positive-emphasis wishes to disregard all the hardship and losses suffered.
I’ve created this opportunity to share with you self-discovery questions, coaching tips and 80s lyrics to help manage the shifts you may have experienced during the Covid-19 lockdown. Grab a pen a paper to note down your answers to the suggested questions!
And if you haven’t already, I invite you to complete a quick survey on “What’s Shifted for You on Lockdown”. It should take no more than 2-3 minutes.
Then read on to find out how to manage your shifts using a three-stage cycle: AWARENESS > GROWTH > REFLECTION
DURAN DURAN – “ORDINARY WORLD”
I love music. Music is my greatest companion and it often helps me boost my mood-of-choice, or get into the right mindset. Remember the track by Duran Duran called “Ordinary World”? This tune came up on my Spotify shuffle, while writing this post and part of the lyrics is just so apt I had to share!
You can listen to it too as you read along (click on YouTube video, and enjoy).
“What has happened to it all?
Crazy, some’d say
Where is the life that I recognize?
Gone away
But I won’t cry for yesterday
There’s an ordinary world
Somehow I have to find
And as I try to make my way
To the ordinary world
I will learn to survive”
1 – AWARENESS: WHAT’S HAPPENING?
Very few of us would not have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, life on isolation and the radical global restrictions. During these incredibly challenging times, we’ve been required and encouraged to rethink a few things, in many areas of our lives: personal, professional, relationships, home/relocation, creativity, and so on. A big blow to our external freedom factors!
As silly and basic as it may sound, a key first step to manage change is to be aware of the change!
- Questions to check in with what’s going on for you:
– How do you feel, What emotions are you experiencing the most?
– What’s been shifting for you during the lockdown?
– Priorities have changed massively globally, how have your personal priorities shifted?
2 – GROWTH: LOCKDOWN AS A LEARNING ZONE
In Coaching, that zone we step into when we courageously venture out of our “ordinary word”, we call it the learning zone or the growth zone. It is where change takes place. Where we expand, turn the unknown into known, experience new things. It’s an area that calls for curiosity and a sense of adventure.
Lockdown life has pretty much chucked us out of our ordinary to explore within the learning zone. And as we learn and grow, we become more and more accustomed to a new reality. A new ordinary. Fortunately, we are very adaptable creatures who enjoy being stretched and tested.
- Questions to explore your growth:
– In what ways have you grown and expanded during the lockdown?
– What new things have you practiced, learnt and enjoyed doing?
– What have you discovered and appreciated more about yourself, What are you most proud of?
3- REFLECTION: THE TAKE-AWAYS!
“We do not learn from experience… we learn from reflecting on experience” – John Dewey
Spending more time at home to help fight the spread of the virus, support the healthcare systems and save lives, has forced us to test new grounds and to adapt very quickly to a new normality. Over time that new normality becomes “not so bad after all” and perhaps even a better place. Many confess (half-guiltily) to appreciate a lot of positives brought about by the lockdown lifestyle, and are now anxious to return to what it was like before #precoronavirus .
“I’m Stuck at Home” turned to more positive descriptions: “I’m Safe at Home” and “I’m Cacooned“.
So what good stuff can we take-away from this experience to continue to expand and improve normality for ourselves and everyone, even when we get out of this tunnel?
- Questions to facilitate the reflection process:
– Which areas of your life have been impacted the most?
– What can you continue to do more of and less of to create long-lasting positive change?
– What new core strengths and values have emerged that can help you manifest new life goals?
ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE NOW..
One thing’s for sure, what is happening in the world has broaden our belief that the impossible can become possible.
We’re witnessing a reality that was previously only make-belief on TV or cinema screens. What was once unthinkable has now been done and tested. Planes grounded around the globe, people isolating at home, schools shut (well, almost everything shut), worldwide events cancelled (including the likes of Wimbledon tournament, Glastonbury and Burning Man!), restaurant, cafes and in fact most venues closed, and very importantly the planet is healing at an unimaginable fast rate and we’re all appreciating the real every-day heroes that keep our lives and cities moving. Crazy times.
It’s unbelievable and there’s no denying that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused (and unfortunately continues still to cause) an incredible amount of grief. But I hope that we can draw man positives from the kindness, community, strengths and opportunities. One by one, each of us by:
- raising awareness of the emotions and shifts experienced,
- growing from the tests and lessons thrown at us, and
- reflecting on what worked well and what can be done better (or stopped) to create a better future for us and the planet.
I hope you gained some value from this post and if you haven’t already, you can complete my quick survey that explores what shifts you may have experienced (if any) on Covid-19 lockdown. Click the button to access the survey.
If you’d like to be supported through your shifts, to create new sustainable and positive change that you can implement and maintain post-lockdown, you can connect with a message below or email me (francesca@gr8fool.com). Let’s chat!
You can book a FREE introductory call with me here: BOOK ME IN
STAY SAFE, STAY ALERT, STAY POSITIVE.