As we find ourselves in a new year and begin to re enter office spaces I keep encountering articles that talk about the pivot that businesses have had to make in light of COVID-19. We are all well aware of the move from in person office spaces to working from home arrangements in which Zoom meetings have become the new normal. Thinking about the professional elements of the shift we’ve all made in our lives prompted me to reflect on the similar ones which we’ve made in our personal lives. There’s no doubting the fact that we all feel like we’ve made sacrifices over the last 12 months. Some feel more significant and painful than others, but they are all sacrifices nonetheless. I wanted to take the time out today to identify these, grieve for the things we’ve lost but then count our blessings and move forward.
There are a lot of things personally that my heart is heavy from based on the restrictions brought upon by the pandemic. It’s made me realise how much I took for granted a world in which my homeland, the country of my birth was only a plan ride away. For those of us whose families are scattered across the world, not knowing when we will see our loved ones again has been gut wrenching. I haven’t been able to stop my mind from going to that place in which I wonder what would happen if something significant occurred to one of my family members and I never got the opportunity to properly say goodbye. It’s made me understand how important it is to cherish those you love and hold them close as long as you can, without taking them for granted.
Another significant loss that’s occurred due to COVID-19 has been the wedding my fiancé and I were planning. In May last year when we got engaged we naively believed that the pandemic would be long gone come September 2021. We subsequently planned a destination wedding in our homeland of Sri Lanka and looked forward to being with family and friends, some of whom by the time our wedding came around we wouldn’t have seen for years. The ongoing nature of the pandemic and the uncertainty around international travel has meant that we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel our dream wedding plans. Unfortunately for us, it’ll mean that my fiancé’s 95 year old grandfather won’t be able to see us get married. This is significant for so many reasons, especially including that he was determined to keep going till he saw us get married in front of him.
The tinges of sadness around all of this are incredibly challenging. But what the current COVID afflicted world has forced us to do is focus on what is the most important and move forward with this in mind. It’s reminded us that lavish, extravagant weddings with hundreds of people attending don’t define love or a successful marriage. They have reminded us that the most important element of all of this is having the ones we cherish the most around us when we commit to each other. It’s forced us to redefine what is at the root of our motivation towards everything.
Personally, I feel grateful for the shift in perspective. Sure, things that haven’t gone the way we have planned them to but it’s heightened our resilience, forced us to pivot in the way we see the world and those within it. It’s moved us to redefine what is most important in life and hold our loved ones dear because nothing is a given. We aren’t owed anything in this life, it is what we make of it and carrying forward an empathy in our actions, as well as, an understanding of motivates us is the key to a life well lived, with or without a pandemic.
I blog for Change. 