Don´t pivot – keep your balance in times of “New Normal”

„Don´t pivot! “, was the headline which caught my attention, as I opened my Inbox today. 

 

A newsletter from Jeff Goins. One of the few, I am frequently reading, because I always learn something from it or get some interesting new links or ideas. It wasn´t that long. He came right to the point in saying: now, more than ever, is the best time to stick to the things you do. Produce true work and double down your strengths.

It came with perfect timing

 

Since days, I was stammering over my new article. Starting with one topic and then switching to another, only to not finish at all. I told myself “there is not enough time” and “I have no idea”. But the fact is: I did have enough ideas, to many even. I just didn´t know how to bring them “on paper” in order to make sense. I just didn´t know what to say about the “new normal”.

 Our routines are upside down. Still

 

I feel inertia creeping in my bones. She`s there in the morning, hushing alluring to skip my routines, to turn around in bed, sleep a little bit longer, not worrying too much. She is very clever. She knows how to get me. She whispers that I´m already doing a lot, that it´s so important to take some time for myself, time for selfcare to rest in balance for the demands of the day. She knows, that I´ve read all those books. She knows, that I know, how important these little time-outs are for our mental health. Inertia exactly knows how to play the ball.

Finally, I give in, I have to admit. I stay a little bit longer in bed, every day. Shortening my Yoga routine and procrastinating my writing. Until: I get emails like Jeff`s. Reminding me, that it is important to stay on track.

Important to not give up. Now, more than ever.

 

I am quite active on Instagram. I follow different “groups„ on all sorts of topics. One is Yoga and another one is the writing community. I follow people, who seem to work remotely and others, who have a bread-and-butter-jobs. During the last week, I´ve seen a switch. It´s just a tendency, it might not be significant giving the minority of my feed, but I feel the mood is turning.

They all tried to be positive throughout the weeks. They dived in their arts and tried to convince their audience to stay strong and positive and get through this together. But I recently got the feeling that this had changed. People are starting to question the quarantine rules, they start to worry not only about their own businesses, but also about the global community.

• How do all the poor kids feel, who are victims of domestic violence? Kids, women and sometimes even men?
• How do all the elderly people feel, whose sole highlight was the visit of their grandchildren, once a week?
• How are all the people suffering, who lost their jobs or even their relatives?
• What do we do, if the global economies doesn´t recover as fast as hoped for?

There is a lot of desperateness, anxiety and even fear out there!

We can´t buy into it now!

 

I think this is, what Jeff Goins wanted to say in his email. If even the ones, who are “on the lucky side”, with a paid job and a non-violent relationship, pivoting and not getting their thoughts together, our situation will get worse day by day.

I once read, that most of the people give up at 80 percent of the way. If they would have only continued for the tiny last 20 percent, they would have succeeded. Of course, we seldomly know, where exactly the 80 percent are, especially not now. But my feeling is, that we are very close to it.

In Bavaria, they just announced a plan for the returning of the kids to school, for reopening gastronomy and for a careful resumption of our social lives. We won´t know, what the results will bring. We just have to trust, that everybody is aware of the thread, which will rest part of our current lives. At least for the next couple of months. Our kids won´t have a normal school day, we won´t be able join large gatherings or festivals.

But it is the first step back into a “normality”.

It will become our new normal.

 

Keeping distance and finding new ways of politeness without shaking hands or hugging. We have to be careful, we have to stay alert. But there is no need to pivot or even give up in these times of “new normal”! It is more important than ever to rethink our core values.

To think about, how WE would like the WORLD TO BE.

We always assume we have no voting rights, but that´s not true. We have a lot to say, with our words and through our actions. It´s not only the parties we vote for, it´s the products we buy, the habits we grow and the attitude we show.

If we continue working on our heartfelt missions, we already made the first step in the right direction. We can support sustainable companies and buy from local vendors. We can help our neighbors and friends and we can do everything it takes to stay centered and balanced.

For the sake of all of us.

 

This might sound a bit pathetic, but that`s how I feel right now. On this Tuesday, after being together with my family night and day for nearly 8 weeks; officially under curfew since March 21 (supposedly for 14 days, but this wasn´t enough).

This is a long time, nobody really had expected. But what are 8 weeks compared to a lifetime? It´s not the time I want to remember, it´s the way we dealt with it.

The loosening is a good sign, I´m sure we already reached the 80 percent hurdle. It might just be, that the last 20 percent will rest with us for a little bit longer. If we could only accept this as our “new normal”.