Covid-19 Is A Good Excuse For... (a blog about ownership)
Have you heard yourself saying yet ‘
’Oh Covid-19 was such a good excuse to ...’
’I can blame the decision on the pandemic...’
Personally over Here i my world, I am calling my pounds of weight gain ‘covid cushion’!!!!!
(yep I learnt how to bake sourdough bread)
But guess what?
It is still BREAD!
And I still made choices to eat ALOT of it!
Maybe you have heard yourself in these ways..
How about this as a leader:
’I finally made the organistation change I had wanted to make for ages, but now I can just blame covid when some of the people don’t like the change’
How about this as a parent:
’I am so glad sports has stopped during the pandemic so I don’t have to drive ourselves into the ground with our kids schedule‘
How about this as a friend:
’I found Covid to be such a good reason to not have to see ...
How about this as a person:
’Covid helped me slow down‘
How about this as a spouse:
’Covid caused our marriage to fall apart’
I want to suggest something to you, in such love for you, Covid did not cause any of it.
My question to myself and to you, as friends on this journey, is this
Why did we need an excuse to slow down, make leadership changes, put relational boundaries in, or get the help we have needed?
One of the keys to building resilience is to not wait for a crisis to place some healthy boundaries in our lives. We can clarify our boundaries and still have it feel like a win/win.
And the power is not in saying ‘Because of Covid’ but actually in OWNING what you need and want, purely because you are valuable enough, worthy enough, important enough and brave enough to say the following:
W - When you (describe the behaviour or action causing difficulty for you)
I - It makes me feel like (say how you feel and the impact the behaviour is having on your personally)
N - Next time (ask for what you need and want)
S - Settle on an agreed course of action for moving forward
So let’s not keep using Covid as an excuse. Let’s own the moment and make it a WIN.
So here is mine about the bread and the weight gain...TO MYSELF (practice the art of ownership)
W - When Covid hit, it highlighted the lack of some systems in my home including the fact that I still had not nailed a meal plan. So instead of creating a meal plan, I distracted myself with the noble art of making bread. So everyone else thought ‘oh wow how lovely she is making bread’.. but really it was ‘oh shoot, she is being distracted again and we may have bread but we don’t have any other food in the house’.
I - This behaviour of mine makes me feel so frustrated because it is a pattern of distractedness that needs to be disrupted
N - Next time I go to make bread, first I want to make sure my meal plan is up and flowing well. If not I will put the time into that first
S- Do I have your agreement husband and children
And I hear from them ...
A very good AMEN (because as much as they love bread, they do like eating other things too!!)
PS Hope this is helpful. For more on Resilience for the Journey stay tuned for a Fall release of my first online course. Subscribe to this website for more updates and free downloads.