LEAD YOURSELF WITH COURAGE, COMPASSION AND CREATIVITY
Are you feeling Pandemic fatigue? I know I am. Here are 10 tips to lift you up based on my integrative, holistic approach to living well. In an uncertain and chaotic environment, how you decide what to do and when, matters. Choose wisely. The following tips come from interviews on and research from people who know how to thrive in crisis—former Navy SEAL commanders, successful CEOs, Harvard business faculty, Stanford health professionals, and more.
Acknowledge fear, resolve to move forward in the face of it. You're not alone in feeling fear of the unknown and grief or sadness for loss of normalcy. Recognizing emotions and allowing them to flow is helpful, because if we force them down, they rise up anyway.
Identify your purpose, create structure. Since the future is unknowable, our values and purpose need to guide us. And, we need structure. Reflect on what your highest values are; align actions with your purpose. If leading others, explain that while outcomes are uncertain, this is our mission, these are actions to further it. Create a structure and assign roles for executing action items.
Experiment, do not be afraid of failure. Making mistakes is normal. Since we're in a new situation, we must act with incomplete information. Better to act and commit to decisions than wait for more information that may not come. Accept that mistakes and setbacks will happen.
Check your ego, take responsibility, assess and learn. This goes hand-in-hand with experimenting. Make decisions, commit to doing them, own the outcome and assess how it worked. Then, move on.
Prioritize, solve the problem, then re-prioritize, tackle the next. In crisis, many things are happening. Identify your top priority. Allocate all resources to solve it. Experiment, assess, do it again. For example, if your ship is leaking, you can't worry about your destination, you need to patch the leaks. Once leaks are patched, evaluate your process, then re-assess what's next. If you try too much at once, you risk diluting resources and failing everything. Focus.
Take care, be kind. Be gentle with yourself and others. We're under stress. Life is not normal. It's okay to feel this. Make time for self-care. Cut others extra slack. Be understanding. Be kind. Practice compassion for yourself and others. Identify and do things that restore you.
Prioritize healthy habits. This relates to acknowledging emotions, creating structure, identifying what gives your life meaning and purpose, getting enough sleep, eating a variety of minimally processed whole foods, drinking plenty of fluids, enjoying moderate exercise, managing stress and supporting healthy relationships. These habits give you strength and resilience. Lean into the people, the settings, the healthy habits that nurture and support you.
Practice gratitude, acknowledge what's working. This is important to help you see possibilities and to shift into a growth mindset. When you focus on what you appreciate in your life and what's working, you start tapping into your abundance and sense of possibilities. You can try this daily by simply listing 3 things you appreciate.
Stimulate your creativity. Uncertain times call for creative solutions to new problems, visualizing what you want in your future beyond the pandemic and dreaming BIG. Avoid getting bogged down in minutiae. Feel the fear, feel the loss, start ticking off problems to solve and start imagining what your life is going to be like when this Pandemic is over, because it will end! Let your imagination run wild to the BIG picture, what dreams can you manifest? Take actions that will return future benefits, like reading books, taking a class or talking to potential mentors. Start building your future today.
Spend time in nature. A recent study found that as little as 10 minutes reduces stress and improves health. Read this blog post. It also boosts mood and creativity. If you can't go outside, bring nature inside. I provide a podcast below to awaken your senses for more presence during your walk.
Lastly, remember to smile, laugh, be happy and take joy in small things. The happiest people are those who find happiness most frequently, often several times a day, rather than focusing on big moments. Learn more.
To help with recognizing and allowing feelings, I'm sharing some guided meditations. The first is a 12 minute guided meditation, the second 5-minute podcast you can listen to before an outdoor walk to awaken your senses and the last is an 15-minute guided meditation for compassion for your self and others.
PRODUCT PICKS THAT YOU WILL LOVE
Visit my YouTube channel to subscribe for more tips. Have you downloaded Your Path to Peace? Go from stressed and anxious to calm and at ease in 5 simple steps. If this post helped you, please share with friends now, by using the buttons below. Thanks!
