How to make the most out of quarantine in your personal and professional life

Think back to a hard experience in your life. Maybe it was a bad breakup in high school that you eventually got over. Maybe it was a challenging experience at work that turned out to be the best job you had. Maybe it was something hard in your marriage that turned into a depth you hadn’t experienced before. Whatever it was, in many cases you can look back with a little bit of wisdom and see that, while it was painful and challenging, there were significant aspects that allowed you to grow in better ways than you could have planned for.

This is how I feel about quarantine. We’re still in the thick of it but every day is so long that five months in still gives us a decent amount of hindsight. 

So while this is still an incredibly hard and overwhelming time in our lives, I wanted to pause and point out a few positives that I’ve seen come out of quarantine. 

1. Innovative business ventures. With so many businesses having to find new ways to survive and thrive, we saw SO many creative ways to bring in revenue! I personally wouldn’t have pulled the trigger so quickly on Canyon Clay Presets if we weren’t in a bit of panic mode about the future. It’s something I had wanted to do for YEARS and when we had a clear need, I figured out a way to make it happen. I worked super hard every night after I put Billie down to create a new side hustle. It was fun and fulfilling and created an entirely new way to operate my business. 
2. More adventures with family. I’ve seen so many people log more quality time with their closest people. With so many options off limits, including gathering with friends, maximizing time as a family unit has been soooo good. For us, we go to the beach at least twice a week. It’s a safe haven for us. It’s grounding, it gets us out of our house, and it gets us away from screens. We get to connect with Billie over sand castles and sand crabs. Even though we live close to the beach, we never made it a regular part of our life. These days? It’s our second backyard, allowing us to find adventure everywhere.
3. Reading more! So many people have been reading more books than ever before. I love this. I love that more people are expanding their minds and experiencing other cultures through books. Full disclosure I am NOT one of those people. Chalk it up to motherhood and business ventures, but that routine didn’t find itself into my space. But I’m soooo happy for everyone who did!
4. Getting clear on who you are and where you’re going. The panic of the pandemic was and is hard, but it’s also forcing couples and families to gain crystal clear clarity. Brian and I had super important conversations about where we’re going and what we value and it created so much peace knowing we are on the same page about SO many important topics. How we want to parent, what we want to be known for, etc. All of that happened because the pandemic created the need and space for them to happen.
5. Recognizing our own resilience. I see and feel this one over and over. We’ve all had some kind of loss in the last six months. Whether it was financial, physical, relational, spiritual, social, or mental hardship or ALL of the above, no one has had it easy.  But when we experience loss, it proves to YOU that you can do more than you think you can. You are resilient. I am resilient. Our community is resilient. And that is something the pandemic can’t take away from us.

Over and over, I am learning that my mindset changes my response. I am choosing, every day, to be grateful for the positives I’m seeing and experiencing in my life, and that includes this crazy quarantine season. 

xo-

Kelsey