How productive are we supposed to be in quarantine?

“If you don’t come out of this with a new skill, you never lacked time, you lacked discipline.”

Quotes and memes like this one are all over social media and lots of people are motivated by them. They’re combating the uncertainty of this time by intentionally learning new things.

That’s awesome.

Another post is also getting traction.

Trauma psychologist, Alaa Hijazi points out on Facebook that circumstances like the pandemic can bring up feelings of grief and fear, retrigger old trauma or exacerbate mental health challenges.

She reminds us that when we’re in coping or survival mode, we usually don’t feel terribly productive or inspired.

That’s OK too.

So, what should you be doing?

What makes sense to you.
(Notice the period rather than a question mark.)

The answer to the question “What should you be doing?’ is “Do what makes sense to you.”

We second guess ourselves though, don’t we?

It’s easy to slip into the trap of thinking you must follow exactly what has been delivered in order to create the promised outcome.

But there’s more than one way to become Resilient, say YES to life, or become a Badass (all books I loved) – and there’s more than one way to get through a pandemic.

If there is one thing I’ve learned that I’m 100% certain of, it’s that for something to work it’s got to work for you. That means, it’s got to work exactly where you are right now.

Adopting someone else’s methodology is kind of like wearing their shoes. Even if they’re the same size, they never fit like your own.

That means taking everything that you learn and culling it for what speaks to you and then piecing together all of those resonant bits into a toolkit of your own making – something to experiment with, and to see what works and what doesn’t, for you.

This Week: Trust Yourself

GATHER information and ideas from any source that inspires you.

Remember to REST.  Sometimes we’re learning.  Sometimes we’re productive.  Sometimes we’re not.

TRUST yourself.  Beneath your fears, beneath what you think others expect of you, beneath your own self judgement, only you know what’s best for you.  

EXPERIMENT with what makes sense to you. Build on what works and dump what doesn’t.

Oh, and if you feel compelled to judge yourself or others? 
Just let that sh*t go – it only gums things up.