By Rachel Hill
This reflection was written during quarantine. What mindset were you in during quarantine? Did you learn anything you wanted to take with you? Have you been able to do that?
With everything that is going on in the world around us, I wanted to take a moment to reflect and encourage you to just, pause. The world, of course, has always been spinning around us, with so much going on — places to go, people to see, chores to be done. But now it feels that over the past few months, the world has stopped spinning, and as a nation, we have all been on pause.
Taking a Moment to Reflect
I wanted to cover this topic after thinking about one of the more recent conversations I had with my therapist. She had some encouraging things to say about my progress over quarantine and threw out the idea that maybe it could be because society around me has paused. People are taking a moment to reflect on their own lives and beginning to ask those bigger questions — “Am I really happy with my job? Or my nutrition? Or, what do I really value in life?” — so I now felt okay with the fact that these are the larger questions I’ve been struggling with for the better part of a decade now.
And I found this concept really interesting, because until we were actually forced to stay in our homes with no distractions, were we able to finally focus on larger issues and forced to look upon the racial injustice that has been plaguing our country for hundreds of years?
So I’m wondering if it is important, dare I say critical, to press pause every few months in our own lives, without being forced to do so because of the terrible circumstances of a pandemic — and also, not just being open to this concept every time when New Year’s rolls around. And I’m not saying it always has to be these larger, overarching, big life questions that we should be asking ourselves, but maybe just starting with small things, like, could we implement better, smaller habits into our everyday lives that could help us feel better and thrive?
Leading Life
Ultimately, I think, making those smaller adjustments could lead us to ask those larger questions. Which I believe could lead to a happier life. One where you’re living life on your own terms and leading a life based on what you value and find important.
I think my mom’s death showed me how fleeting life can really be. For me, everything I had ever known in life changed in a phone call.
So, I encourage you to press pause, reassess, and then move forward with a life that is more in line with your values.
