How to Make the Most of the Current Situation

“We had The Great Depression. Then The Great Recession. I hope this will be the Great Reset. With so many activities being stripped away, perhaps never before have so many people been required to ask: “What’s essential now?” -Greg McKeown

For many of us, daily life looks a lot different today than it did just a few short months ago. There’s no denying it — not being able to spend quality time with the ones we love doing the things we enjoy is rough. As much as I’ve embraced the Zoom happy hour, virtual hugs just aren’t quite the same. I miss family gatherings, social outings, sports, and just plain being around people.

While it’s easy to focus on all that we’re missing out on right now, what if instead we used this point in time to ask ourselves:

What does this make possible?

I can’t help but think of the opportunity that we have right now to take inventory and reflect on how we prioritize our lives. To be able to look back and say “boy, that was rough, but look at how much I learned about myself during that time”.

Here are some simple but powerful questions you can ask yourself:

What are you doing now in daily life that you’d like to continue to do?
What things were you doing before because you felt you had to, not because you genuinely wanted to?
What activities are giving you energy instead of draining it?

When I reflect on my “new normal”, there are undoubtedly things I’d like to continue to do. Weekly family video chats, daily walks, buying local, and prioritizing self-care all come to mind. My wife Erin and I have enjoyed having our evenings free, cooking dinner and not running from activity to activity. As much as I miss playing sports every week, not having them has led to significantly better sleep and allowing myself time to think.

“What if we stopped celebrating being busy as a measure of importance? What if instead, we celebrated how much time we had spent listening, pondering, meditating, and enjoying time with the most important people in our lives?” -Greg McKeown

Whether we recognize it now or not, I think we’re going to look back on this period in time and remember it in vivid detail.

By challenging the “we’ve always done it that way” mindset, we can reflect on this experience as one that made us better and provided us more clarity around what’s really important in our lives.

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Brett Koeppel is a fee-only Buffalo financial advisor, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^TM, and the Founder/President of Eudaimonia Wealth. Eudaimonia Wealth is a fee-only, fiduciary, Buffalo financial planner and wealth management firm dedicated to helping families prepare for and transition into retirement by providing independent, objective financial planning and investment management advice.

[Photo by Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash]