It’s been a year.
As I wrote in a post last year, I stood in the doorway to my office and I knew in my bones that it would be a long time until I would return. Here I am, writing this from home where I currently spend most of my time.
As we recognize the tremendous losses of the past year since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, I thought I would offer what I’ve learned since then.
- While higher education can be slow to innovate, my colleagues and I successfully created a start-up vibe last March as we helped our organization pivot to remote work. As a few of my co-workers have said recently, we can no longer say something can’t be done.
- Dogs on Instagram can bring tremendous joy.
- Quality sleep + regular exercise + eating healthily = weight loss (who knew?)
- Golf is fun.
- Actively working for democracy brings results.
- Government matters.
- Creating a culture of care in the workplace isn’t hard to do and makes a difference for employees.
- Dogs benefitted the most from us working from home.
- For many, a worldwide public health crisis fosters reflection on personal values and priorities.
- Birds at our feeders bring me joy.
- New neighborhood puppies bring me joy.
- Working from home requires intentional routines and boundaries.
- Teenagers are not wired for 100% online schooling (at least mine aren’t).
- Tremendous creativity can be nurtured when there is time to reflect.
- Chocolate heals most ailments (ok, I already knew that)
- Pants with buttons are not necessary.
- Yoga, deep breathing, journaling, meditation, and connection are essential tools for dealing with collective trauma.
- Bingeing on good shows provides an escape.
- Friends are priceless.
- We are resilient.
- We can do hard things.
Inspired by Pluto the Canadian schnauzer.