Take Inventory of Your Achievements During This Time

I can not find the right words to describe the last three months. Words like crazy, unprecedented, challenging, or disbelief seem commonplace now and cannot fully define what has transpired the world over. We have felt a vast range of emotions as disease, the economy, and most recently divisiveness has disrupted what we called normal.

Everyone has experienced these events in different ways. Some people have never slowed down; in fact, their role or day to day life may have only accelerated. For others, it came to a jarring halt and they found themselves without a steady income or had to file for unemployment while on furlough. Still, others had time they never thought they had and were able to spend more time with family or hobbies. Regardless of your situation, these last few months have taken an emotional toll on each of us. The effects of that may not be fully realized yet. Coupled with the scenes and stories of protests, violence, and unrest, we need to take time to reflect and begin a healing process.

One way to begin that important step is to take some time and begin to inventory what you have accomplished over the past three or so months. It can be rewarding or eye-opening to pause from the world and look back at what you have done. Even the smallest of things should be acknowledged, contemplated, and thought about.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help get you started in your reflection, healing, and reenergizing process:

• What books have you read or listened to?
• How many articles or podcasts did you read or listen to?
• How many subjects have you explored?
• What new hobbies did you discover?
• What old hobbies did you reinvest in?
• What new ways did you connect to friends or family?
• How did you catch up on sleep and begin to build new habits for that in the future?
  

Some additional things to think about:

• As some levels of normalcy return, what new habits do you want to keep?
• How will you spend your time differently in the future?
• What do you want to remind yourself to not do anymore?
• How will you keep what is important to you at the forefront and not let it slip back to where it was before?
  

And finally:

• What did you not do, that you still want to start?
• How will you accomplish that?
• What more can you do to make a positive impact on those around you every day in every way?
  

All of these are meant to be reflective and positive. Do not allow yourself to dwell on what you didn’t do. This should not be a should’ve, would’ve, could’ve exercise that could end up being deflating. This is a positive exercise to recognize that the last few months have been incredibly difficult, draining, and life-altering for each of us in our own individualized way. This reflection process is a step in healing and helping each of us realize there is always something great we have done, are doing, and can do in the future.

What were your biggest learnings from your reflection time?

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