In times of great change, the advice from the wise has been to not fight it but to embrace the change, accept the change and move through it, adapting to the change. I would have said, I am flexible and adaptive…I know that accepting the change is a key step forward to change management. Blah, blah blah…yup I got this.

It came to me as a surprise when one email regarding a postponement of the race I have been training for stopped me in my tracks, literally, I just stopped running. It wasn’t only my running schedule that fell apart, I stopped working on my other goals also. I felt bad about it, yet I rationalized like crazy; from there was no way I could train now, to everything is different, and my favourite…how can I do anything to move forward the world is completely different. Oh, my mind was busy finding reasons not to do things…

In a moment of introspection, while I was pulling weeds in the garden, it struck me, while I was busy finding a new normal, I didn’t need to leave behind my old normal I needed to shift the goal, and shift my mindset about the goal. Yes, I am at home daily, teaching H to cook, we paint every day, and I have played much more road hockey in the last 8 days than I think I have in my entire life. Yes, I am planning on camping in the living room on Saturday, cooking outside over the fire pit and we create a weekly schedule of animals to  ‘visit’ via the live webcams ….yes we are doing things differently.

What I had forgotten, was that I need to bring along into my new normal are the activities that fuel me, that ground me and provide me the self-care I need to push forward. I have replanned my training schedule taken it a bit slower in order to build up momentum again, and I am scheduling ‘work’ time for the early morning hours. I am going slow to weave the old and the new together creating new goals, shifting to a new mindset, I don’t have to leave behind anything.

There are many philosophical posts out there, doing a much better job than me of stressing the importance of managing these changes, idea’s abounding on creating memories for families, on embracing the time to slow down and engage with simplicity. My little voice is just a whisper… take what you need for yourself forward, yup it will have to be re-planned, maybe reestablished, or restructured…what fuels our souls, builds our strength.

What can give you strength, don’t leave it behind…