Re-Evaluation

Even early in the pandemic, it was clear this was going to change us. Maybe we didn’t know how long we’d be in its grasp, and still don’t for that matter, but we collectively knew this situation would cause a shift. For me, I felt like I wanted to come through it a different person. More grateful? More positive? More hopeful? I’m not sure what I was aiming for, but it’s always said that you don’t let a good crisis go to waste and I wasn’t about to let that happen. 

Flip ahead a few months and when I was a free agent, with my time at Edmonton Tourism at an end, and change was upon me. Though this exit may not have been the direct plan, it as an opening, a forced chance to re-evaluate and I’m wanting to embrace that. And that’s been the aim the last dozen plus months.

With that re-evaluation comes lots of questions for an introspective thinker like me. I’m not unique that way as many of us have internal dialogue that can simultaneously be positive and combative. Questions abound such as what I want my future to be? How do I get there? Have my needs and goals changed? Those are all important but beyond that I think bigger thoughts have come to mind:

• Interactions matter – even if you’re on the introverted side of the spectrum, as I am, being with people matters. That may just mean being in a coffee shop solo surrounded by others, but we all crave connection. With the many restrictions over this pandemic, I missed the ease of meeting up with people and have appreciated to a greater degree the ones I’ve been able to have these last many months. 
  
  
• We still have it rather good – if the most challenging thing I’ve had to deal with over the last many months is figuring out how to develop my business, reshape my career objectives, and wear a mask in public, I’m ok. So many people in our country, and certainly in other parts of the world, deal with far more complicated situations. That’s a pretty obvious assertion, but even though covid has knocked us down, many positives still surround us.  
  
  
• Little things really do matter – I’d never intentionally taken for granted hugging my nephews, but I sure missed it early in the pandemic and over the last year as we had to do gatherings more carefully. Seeing the 3 year old run up to me or being able to hug the others meant even more than normal. I hope that lesson sticks and is applied to other situations.

In challenging times it’s easy to wax poetic about all the wonderful things we should do and how much we’ll change. If the first phase of this is re-evaluation, then I’ve been fully in that for many months. Continued action is next and that’ll be the interesting test.