A Better Future
It’s normal to daydream of going back to normal when this is all over, but what if we don’t go back, but go ahead instead? No one can deny how challenging it has been, but every cloud has a silver lining. Let's not forget the growth, strength and even beauty that emerged this past year. Not to mention our budding love affair with nature: a relationship we want to nurture. Instead of going back to exactly the way things were, let’s take what we learned and move forward.
Lessons Learned
It's easy to focus on all the recent negativity, but positivity and growth can still come out of every situation. Here are some of our favorite experiences of the last year:
Slowing down. Setting up classrooms and offices from home not only gave us that little extra sleep in the morning, but it also helped us slow down our regular routines. We could take time to focus on the little moments and enjoy some quiet time with much less daily hustle and bustle. Fewer cars on the road and less gas consumption also meant a healthy break for the environment, a win-win!
Cozying up to nature. For many of us, taking walks and rediscovering the beauty in our backyards has been a saving grace. Biking, hiking, picnics and bbqs have all given us a deeper appreciation of nature and its role in our lives, and we’ve learned how healing a little Vitamin D and fresh air can be.
Watching the environment thrive. As more and more people around the world stayed in, the animals came out, and it was a beautiful thing to see the environment start to heal itself. From swans swimming in the clear waters of Venice, to an abundance of wildlife in areas that were once heavily populated, it’s humbling to see how the world reacted with a little break.
Being part of a community. Most of us probably never gave much thought to a sense of community before, but now reaching out to a neighbor, smiling (with our eyes) at people we pass in the street and knowing that we are all in this together gives us a sense of solidarity we don’t want to lose.
Learning to change. Our favorite and most important lesson is realizing how adaptable we are. We have grown more than expected and changed the way we live in the last year, but change should be constant. If we continue to evolve, we can break even more boundaries.
All we can do is look ahead to a brighter future, and we can make it better by remembering the good that has come out of this. Let's continue our love affair with nature and work on changing the world for the better. There is beauty and potential in everything.