by Caroline Leach | Dec 30, 2021 | Change
The “new year, new you” hype feels a bit overwhelming at the moment, doesn’t it?
As if we’re supposed to flip a switch on New Year’s Day and completely make over our lives in an instant.
It occurred to me today, grateful to be driving around in Southern California rain, that life is pretty good. Despite Omicron. Despite the state of the world.
If we want to make changes in our lives, the best way to make lasting change is to take small steps toward it, every day.
And it’s also important to see each day as a fresh start, and a new year’s day all of its own.
Here’s to making the most of every day. And enjoying every day. Happy New Year!
by Caroline Leach | Nov 27, 2021 | Change, Leadership
Reflection ramps up toward the end of a year. Here we are, almost at the end of a second year of living with the Covid-19 virus. How are you navigating through it all?
Thanksgiving this year felt like a welcome pause, to connect with family and friends and be mindful of the blessings in our lives.
Life threw us another curve that day, with news of a new Covid variant. Called Omicron, the new variant is still elusive enough we don’t know exactly how to proceed. As if we ever did.
Reflecting on Thanksgiving 2020 gave me much-needed perspective. The LA County Health Department was just shutting down outdoor dining for restaurants, as Covid spiked in Los Angeles. It felt like a near-death knell for our family’s fledgling restaurant that opened in the summer of 2020.
A year later, though, much has changed. Vaccines became available soon after last Thanksgiving. Business restrictions eased, and the restaurant is generating momentum. Life returned mostly to normal, albeit wearing masks in public places and managing through supply chain disruptions.
Remembering how quickly a year passes and how much changes resulted in two observations. First, a lot can change in a year. Second, viewed in that context, the present truly is a present. And third, what is possible during the next year?
As the poet Mary Oliver penned: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and previous life?”
Our lives take shape in the minutes, hours, days and years.
What is possible for YOU in the year ahead?
by Caroline Leach | Jun 29, 2021 | Change, Learning
A colleague tipped me off to this week’s Aspen Ideas Festival. What an inspirational collection of people and ideas. It’s juxtaposed onto this strange transitional time we’re all living through as we emerge from 16 months of a global pandemic in the U.S.
A favorite talk came from Arthur Brooks. He’s a professor, an author, a podcaster, a thinker and so much more. What he got me thinking about is not simply recovering from post-pandemic trauma, but how to turn the experience into one of growth.
Reframing the months-long experience of intense uncertainty, day after day, into one of growing from it is incredibly powerful. Like a weight being lifted off one’s shoulders.
As you reflect on your life over the last year during Covid-19, what did you learn? What did you accomplish that you didn’t think you could? (And yes, sheer survival counts as a major accomplishment.) How did you grow and change?
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