Even challenging times provide opportunities to learn and grow are. As an optimist, I’ve managed to remain mostly positive during the pandemic.
Not that it’s been all rainbows and lollypops. It’s been dreadful not being able to see my parents as often as I’d like. Similarly, I’ve missed my friends, and Zoom is no replacement for face-to-face learning for my son, who misses talking and playing with his friends.
It was painful not being able to hug my mother and father. Happily, we were able to bond over Zoom when I converted their old VHS tapes using a VHS to DVD conversion service and relived their golden memories.
Channelling That Silver Lining
When life hands us a basket of lemons, we may as well pull up a chair and try our hand at making lemonade. Here are my five key insights gleaned during my struggle for serenity.
- Nurture Simple Pleasures
From baking to gardening and growing our own veggies, I tried to shift my perspective. I discovered a real joy in longer and more meaningful Zoom and telephone calls (more golden oldie VHS memories) with family and friends. I walked the dog every morning, read more books, wrote letters and cooked just for pleasure.
- Make Time for Connecting With Family and Friends
Having swapped my work/life balance around, I’m now far more relaxed about making time for communication and intimacy within my relationships. I’m more conscious of the value of kindness. Out went the frantic scheduling of a life lived on the go. This has been a revelation and a new recognition of the need for structure and individual space, as well as feeling comfortable sharing what’s going on in our newly embraced closeness.
- Channel Objectivity
As traumatic as it has been to be knocked off-balance, the dramatic, even radical change in our personal and collective experience gave me a rare opportunity. To nurture fresh objectivity and to view life from a different perspective. I viewed the world and my relationships in a new way. Be it in our weekly schedules, our home and daily life. I also gained new insights into what was working for us.
- Flexibility
Perhaps the greatest lesson for me during the pandemic has been the opportunity to try and be more flexible. Losing control of my daily schedule, working from home and homeschooling my kids, taught me the value of going with the flow. Accepting what life was handing out, rather than fighting to hang onto our existing pace of life. Rather than feeling exhausted, stressed and frustrated, I learned the enduring value of flexibility.
- Pacing Myself and Time Management
Now our home is a time-shared office full-time school and entertainment space, life is busier than ever. On the other hand, the dreaded daily commute is a fading memory, shopping has gone online and home delivery has taken the drudgery out of searching for a car park. I have learned the sheer joy of relaxing, slowing down and sniffing my newly planted roses!
Much as we’d like to, we can’t control everything, given the seeming chaos surrounding us. But we can choose how we react to our environment and our cumulative experiences.
Final Observation
By now, we’ve learned a very hard lesson about the limits of our control over what happens to us. I learned the shared joy of converting our old VHS tapes using VHS to DVD transfer to revisit my parents’ golden memories. What we can control is whether we will recognize those opportunities surfacing during these challenging times and how committed we are to learning from them.
