There is one thing that Covid taught me and I’m thankful for it

It seems crass or maybe even privileged to say that there was a ‘silver lining’ to Covid after the year that I’ve personally had and the year I know that the world has had. I do find though that one thing has changed and I thought maybe sharing it would help folks find a similar silver lining.

SO, here it is: Our time isn’t infinite (on this this Earth, at least).

I’m not trying to be morbid here, either. I LOVE this life (cue a country song…)

What I mean is our time here doesn’t last forever and how I have been viewing time up until this last year looks something along the lines of me being 80-years-old and then looking back at life and going ‘oh, crap… where did time go?’ I’ve been moving at a pace each day that send me straight into the line up of older folks who end up telling young folks ‘it goes quick.’

Could be that I have kids now, it could be the year that was Covid or it could be that I’m in my 30s now and there seems to be some sort of shift that happens in the minds of people around this age. Whatever it is – and I believe Covid 100% – I took a hard look at my life and my time and realized that something has to change.

And here’s some irony for you – Last March my husband and I went on vacation to Hawaii not knowing that Covid was going to be what it has become and I was looking for a good book to read while there (because when you have kids that only time you read is on an airplane by yourself lol) and oddly enough a pastor in the Portland area I like had just released a book called ‘The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.’ Remember… irony lol

I read the book in under two days – our flight there and down time in the afternoon and evenings. The gist of the book is that, as humans, we are moving at such a quick pace that we aren’t actually living. The stress and anxiety is actually killing us. There’s a LOT more to this book than that but for our purpose here that’s pretty much it.

Now, take that book and then what this last year looked like – WOW. Just wow. To say it was convicting is an understatement. And I never would have realized the speed at which my life was going until this virus MADE it stop… on a dime, literally.

I took a step back and asked myself a few questions that I had never actually had the time to ask myself (or was afraid to) :

1. What is important in this life?
2. How am I being intentional about those things?
3. What can I eliminate in my life to make sure I’m being successful at #2 and prioritizing #1?

I would highly suggest taking a day or two and asking yourself those questions and then giving your mind the space to answer to your soul, honestly.

Another irony here… While Covid took hundreds of thousands of lives around the world – I found mine. It’s an incredibly devastating and beautiful irony. The time we were forced to stay home is time that I know I’ll never get back. The world will turn a corner and life will begin to go back to the speed and pace it always was but not for me. I saw a glimpse of a future that I would have never had the time to dream of if Covid hadn’t slowed it down.

So, I’ll leave you with the cliché saying ‘hug your loved ones’ and not because you never know what will happen today but because one day you’ll wake up and you’ll be 80-years-old and be wondering where the time went.

xoxoxo

Jenn