It Still Starts With You
All change starts with you.
Even now. Even here in this moment in the world when you might feel powerless.
But you're not. Not really. You still have the guts and the knowledge and the means to change yourself and change your life.
The problem is that you're giving your time and energy to the wrong causes ... like the news and Facebook and Instagram and TikTok. (I know, I can't believe I just said that either – but it's true!)
See, the simple truth is this: no matter who you are, you can't fix your life (or America) by posting on social media.
None of us gets paid to be an amateur epidemiologist on Facebook. There's no paycheck (and only the most fleeting satisfaction) in tag-teaming with your buddy on rebuttal comments on Stupid Post #422 From Somebody You Once Knew 12 Years Ago. Because if there was a paycheck for that shit, we'd all be rich.
So if that's where you're spending energy, stop. Redirect. Invest that energy in you. Even in a pandemic. Even if you're unemployed.
Start with yourself. It's always been the best place to begin. You know what to do.
Limit your zoning out time on the internet.
Limit your Facebook, your Instagram, your Twitter, your TikTok unless you are being financially compensated for that time.
Stop watching so much news, whether it's Fox or CNN.
And start investing that time in you, your skills, your business, your side gig, your life. Work on what will make you feel better in the future, not just what will make you feel better right now.
Easy to say, hard to do in a pandemic but what the hell – no better time to try, right?
Because if you're not using this pandemic time to reinvent yourself, you're wasting valuable daylight.
"Hey! That's not fair! I need self-care! I'm just trying to survive here. It's a pandemic, you know!"
You could say that and you'd be right. It is okay if you just survive. These times are hard. I got a big (virtual) hug for you just for breathing every day.
But if you want something more, if you're aching from waiting so long to start a new and better life, then don't let this pandemic take that dream from you.
Don't let some stupid virus have the last word. Don't let this novel coronavirus choke the air out of your dreams when you don't even have COVID-19.
No matter what has happened to you, if you're alive you still have a chance.
If you're breathing, you can still do the work. If you've got a heart that won't quit, you can start working on your escape from the crowded town of Just Getting By and toward the village of OMG, Life Can Be Like This?
None of us will be younger when there's a vaccine. And it will be years before we're truly carefree again. This pandemic will have a lasting effect on us all.
But it doesn't have to produce only negative effects.
You can have a bad pandemic ... or maybe you can have a slightly better one.
But you're going to have to do the work when you don't want to. You're going to have to turn the lights on in your brain when you really want to turn the lights off. You will have to persevere and be resilient. It won't be easy ... but it could be worth it.
I'm not saying you have to create a better you during this time. I'm just saying if you really want to be better than you've ever been, don't give up. Not now. Not to this stupid virus. And not ever.
This pandemic is just another thing in your life. Figure out what you need to do to shine. Don't let this virus beat you. Don't let it beat your dreams.
Marianne Williamson once wrote, “Each of us has a unique part to play in the healing of the world."
What's your part? Start working on that.