March marked the official one-year mark of the pandemic, and “What a year!” is an understatement. Mixed emotions seems par for the course. Some of the tracks I’m hearing a lot include feeling equal parts exhausted and hopeful about the future, feeling completely disconnected and yet also unwilling to connect via another video call, and feeling ready for *normal* life, and still not wanting to go back exactly how things were in The Before. 
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The latter point is one I want to address today because even for those I know whom the pandemic has been brutally difficult, there still have been some gifts. Gifts that would not have been possible pre-pandemic. Things like reduced business travel, getting to know your children even more deeply, and more bedtimes, breakfasts, or dinners at home. Or things like spending more time connecting with your beloved, perhaps making hard and thoughtful decisions about relationships, getting comfortable being alone, and truly getting to know yourself, what you need, and what you really don’t.
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I know a lot of people feeling super sad about the end of more time at home. While I am so ready to skip zoom and meet people for coffee and lunches again, I too have enjoyed the ease that video has given us for quick connections. Honestly, losing time racing around the city for meetings and such was often exhausting, as much as I miss the IRL connections that this card-carrying capital “E” extrovert craves. That’s why I’m recommending starting to think about your new life blend.
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What are some of the things you want to carry forward into The After? Now is the time to get intentional about this. Start a list — a parking lot to refer to in the future — of any of your pandemic gifts. Include all new rituals you are loving, any new practices you want to maintain, basically anything that you want to keep rolling into your after times. Please know, it is A-OK if there is nothing. The key is to decide for yourself instead of feeling out of control and as if you have zero agency about how to live going forward. You do. Even if your boss is demanding, for example, you return physically to the office, you still have lots of room to adjust your life going forward.
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As the pandemic begins to wrap up for each of us differently depending on vaccines, community regulations, and personal comfort, take with you what has been working, what you want to keep. It’s understandable to be feeling sadness or wistfulness mixed with excitement about transitions ahead. Mixed emotions are intense! All those feelings are telling you that it’s time to come up with YOUR new life blend. Hope this is a helpful and hopeful start to this process for you. I’d love to know what you come up with so I can further support you in this work. Please hit reply and let me know!
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