Based on very recent news that certain restrictions are to be lifted in a matter of weeks, is it too early to talk about making post-lockdown plans?
I don’t just mean a picnic and a coffee on a park bench or even a holiday, I mean post-lockdown plans that will affect your life and what it looks like going forward into your future.
With the slightly warmer weather (in London anyway), the slightly longer, lighter days and the fact that my hydrangeas are covered in buds, I have been feeling very positive.
I don’t mean that type of relentless positivity that ignores what’s really happening and doesn’t leave any room if you aren’t feeling 100%, I mean a calm, reassuring positivity that is telling me that the future is not always going to be like this and that feels exciting.
The Zoom and Gloom is lifting…slowly but it's heading in the right direction.
I’m calling it optimism mixed with a bit of realism as I understand there is no magic wand to make everything and everybody in the world ok.
Even so and with knowing we are still going to have to take baby steps for quite a while, I am choosing to feel optimistic and it’s making me feel pretty positive about the future.
How have you been – do you recognise that feeling at all?
No matter how you have been spending your time in the last year, whether you’ve chosen to learn a new language, become a DIY expert or a master baker or whether you’ve chosen to get through with Netflix, wine & cocktails and a bowl of Mini Cheddars, the good news is that most of us have got some light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s coming in a matter of weeks.
Although nobody would have wanted it to work out quite like this, we have to acknowledge that the pandemic and particularly the lockdowns have given us some time and space to think about what and who is important to us, what’s working in our life, what makes us happy and on the flip side what isn’t working so well and what makes us unhappy.
With those things in mind, we’ve got the chance to decide how we want our life to be and I think now’s the time to get on and do it and decide what the changes are going to be.
So, in answer to the question in the first paragraph – No, it’s not too early to make your plans.
I know change can be scary for some of us, but guess what, you have been through so many changes in the last year and when you think of it like that, everything feels easier.
My feeling is that a truly fulfilling life is the one that you totally enjoy where you can grow, develop, have fun and where you are aware of what is and who is priority to you.
Where you are open and not afraid of a challenge.
Any life will have its not so good parts, the ups and downs that we don’t plan for, but when you have a life you are happy with, you are more resilient and can weather the storms.
That kind of happy and fulfilled life is available to all of us, if we want to choose it, by making some changes.
I genuinely believe that a lot of people sleepwalk through life (often quite happily oblivious that they are even doing it). They react to people and situations, they change their plans to fit in with others (even though they might moan about it and eventually get resentful) and they basically allow life to happen to them.
Any hopes and dreams that they might have had, are dashed and left by the wayside because they didn’t plan to make them happen. Maybe they didn’t think they were important or maybe they couldn’t see how to make them happen.
That kind of unhappy, unfulfilled life is available to all of us, if we want to choose it, by not doing anything to change it.
As we start to come out of what I hope will be the last lockdown ever, I would love for you to become more empowered, to be more pro-active and to make some choices about how you want your life to be and what you want for yourself and those you are close to.
And if you haven’t given this any thought before, it doesn’t matter - the right time to do it, is now.
I would encourage you to sit yourself down in a quiet place when you have some time and be honest with yourself. Make some notes so that you don’t forget what comes up, you don’t want to forget one of your best ideas.
Ask yourself some questions about your pre-lockdown life:
What wasn’t working for you?
What worked, what do you want to keep?
What do you secretly hope you could change?
What are you afraid of changing?
What’s really important?
These are the tip of the iceberg, there are tons of questions to ask yourself and some will already be forefront of mind, as long as you allow them to be there and don’t push them away.
I wrote a post about asking yourself questions a few months back and so that might also be useful – you might like to take a look at that.
Chances are you will end up with more questions than answers and that’s where I could come in to help. Maybe you can't work out the questions and I can help with that too.
Even if you don’t yet know what your plans and goals are, we can talk through things and see what is working for you and what isn’t making you so happy and look to see where things could be tweaked.
We can have a chat about how I could help and support you – I would love to hear from you so please do get in touch for your complimentary consultation.