Next step

Your goals and dreams and the “new normal”

As the world emerges from this COVID quarantine, slowly in some places, suddenly in others, it can feel a little strange being out and about in our new normal. 

But regardless of what a governor or local municipality deems “safe”, we each must decide our own level of tolerance and comfort with being out and around people again. 

A couple of weeks ago, I shared a commentary that was circling social media about us not being in the same boat. About how this global pandemic affects us all, but how specific health or economic circumstances can make its impact vastly different. (Go to We may be in this together, but we are not in the same boat to read the post.)

Those things are still true. Opening things back up doesn’t change that.

But as we choose to venture out, continue to stay in, throw caution to the wind, or somewhere in between,

Here are some things to consider as you come to terms with your “new normal”:

Your exposure is not yours alone.

For me, it’s important to continue to limit my exposure as much as possible to help protect the people I love, like my family, particularly my grandkids and my mom. I have to remember that my exposure is their exposure so it’s best for me to venture out with caution.

Isolate with care.

Lots has been reported about the mental and emotional drain of isolation. The fact is humans are social creatures. We need each other.

While you may be able to continue to isolate yourself from just about everybody and may not feel safe being around people at all, it’s also important to connect in whatever ways you can.

Maybe the new normal is being around people while keeping social distance standards. That’s hard for me to remember, I admit. When I greet my brother I want to give him a hug and he jumps back. “What are you doing?” Oh right. Sorry. I forget. I’m glad he remembers. I can visit with him and keep my distance. It’s better than not seeing him at all.

It’s not over.

COVID is real. It’s not a hoax or political conspiracy and it’s not gone. To date, more than 89,000 people in the US have died from COVID. We sometimes fall into the attitude that it won’t happen to me, and if it does, I’ll be okay.

But we’d be better off as a community if we could get out of the “Me, me, me” mentality. It’s not all about any one of us alone. One person’s actions can affect a whole lot of other people.

Your goals and dreams await. 

Enough of the warnings and reminders.

As we’ve seen with crystal clarity, nothing is guaranteed.

So whatever you want to do in this life, do it now. Start.

It’s okay to start small, but whatever you’ve held in your heart as a deep desire, maybe so deep and daunting you’ve kept it to yourself and haven’t dared to share it with another soul.

Maybe you’ve come up with dozens of reasons why it won’t work, why you can’t do it, or why it’s just not the right time. Start the work now so when the time is right, you’re ready. 


What does the future hold for you? 

Believe in the beauty of your dreams and take action toward your dreams.  

There’s so much that is out of our control. That’s true.

But there’s still a lot we can control, like setting goals, making a plan to work toward them, and working the plan. 

It starts with believing you can.