Probably the biggest challenge we have faced in the last couple of years was COVID-19. But as the world begins to open back up, it’s important we take a proper look at the habits we have created over the last couple of years. It is a very important step to take in order to reorient ourselves. We might have developed some good habits, but there are others we need to let go of as soon as possible.
For about 2 years now, many of us have had our worlds restricted in some form. To whatever extent and level we have reduced our activities due to the pandemic that is our new normal. As things open up, the challenge is to remember what we are used to now is not our normal life. This has been a temporary constriction of normal life. It will take a while to navigate to the open world again. Chances are there are limitations we’ve become accustomed to that will take some conscious unwinding.
We are all creatures of habit. In effect, we teach a part of our brain to help us to continue to do certain things. We keep regular routines, react to things a certain way and expect things to unfold exactly as we have become accustomed to them unfolding. Over the past two years, we’ve all assumed some new habits. As things continue to open up, some of them may turn out to be good one but many of them, though, deserve to be let go. Some of our pre-pandemic habits will need to be consciously re-established.
One of the big obstacles to overcome is the underlying fear that many of us have adopted in reaction to the pandemic. But we also have a big problem with our media. When they identify something that’s potentially dangerous, they lose all objectivity and build up the intensity and the fear as high as they can. The media focused on the worst cases, the most pessimistic numbers, and graphic descriptions or displays of the very worst experiences there can be. But this is all part of their business.
Whatever is most awful in the world is what we will see on the news. With close to 8 billion people on Earth, there will always be something awful going on somewhere. Our fear and sense of helplessness are part of what builds the news audience. It’s what gets us to tune in again and again to see whether events, over which we have no control, have taken a turn for the better or the worse.
In the case of COVID-19, this has served to focus our attention on one single variable, one dangerous threat that we must avoid at all costs and, in effect, terrifying us all with doomsday scenarios. In this process, all perspective is lost. All awareness of other variables, all consideration of trade-offs and consequences, is gone. And there are always trade-offs in life.
But the fear that we have lived with for the last two years will take time to dissipate, and it will take a conscious, deliberate effort to rebuild and regain our full range of functioning again. We tend to favour the status quo, and after two years of lockdowns and limitations, a new status quo will have been established that is different from what we were used to back in 2019.
Take some time to re-evaluate your daily habits, your vision for the future, and the kinds of experiences and activities you value. Pay attention to your impulses and emotions, the draw of momentum that your current, more restricted habits prefer. Then think of how you’ll feel if you continue to follow those habits and how different you will feel if you lean into life a bit more than you’ve been doing.
Finding our energy, ambition and courage is what will bring us the joy and satisfaction we are longing for. Leaning in, taking chances, building and creating is what our deepest longing needs of us.
Consider whether it is time to make changes and which good habits you want to keep and what bad habits you want to ditch. Then do something about it.
Sven Franssen