Your Spring Renewal
Are you ready with the arrival of Spring, the longer days and the end of COVID to start living your new life?
If so, grab a piece of paper, a cup of coffee and let’s start crafting it now!
Can you believe it’s almost 2 years since our world has been changed completely by the arrival of COVID?
I remember the horrifying photos that circulated from different countries around the world and then right here in NYC as we became the epicenter of the virus.
Our whole lives changed, we were frightened to leave the house, offices closed down, travel stopped almost entirely, restaurants and stores closed, our new uniform included a mask and human contact – a vital part of life was almost non-existent.
We all went off into our little pods with our families and loved ones and began adapting to what this new existence would look like. We were fairly isolated, and saw the toll that took on people of all ages.
All of us learned lessons as these mandatory shutdowns forced us to reconnect with our families, do a mental stock keeping of all that truly mattered, found clever ways to do things or to entertain ourselves when many of our usual outlets were shut down.
It was a time to turn inward. And, that is one of the great blessings that has come from this period. We had a chance to think of how we may want to reset and what we would do when the world finally reopened.
I meditate daily on Scripture and during the pandemic, there was one I would meditate on often, it comes from the book of Ecclesiastes, verse 3. It reads:
To everything there is a season.
And time for every matter under heaven.
A time to be born, and a time to die.
A time to plan and a time to pluck up what is planted.
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down and a time to build up
A time to weep, and a time to laugh
A time to mourn and a time to dance
A time to throw away stones and a time to gather stones together
A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing
A time to seek and a time to lose
A time to keep and a time to throw away
A time to tear and a time to sew
A time to keep silence and a time to speak
A time to love and a time to hate
A time for war and a time for peace
I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time.
It was a reminder to me that COVID was one of the difficult seasons of life we would have to endure but there would be again be:
A time to be reborn
A time to build up
A time to gather stones together
A time to embrace
And a time to love since God has made everything beautiful in its time
Spring Renewal is about that time. It is time to start our new lives. To do that, we will do three exercises.
Take a piece of paper and at the top write, “What I have learned during the pandemic.” Write anything that comes to mind in whatever order it comes in.
Take stock of what your discoveries were.
Did you realize that work outside of the home was necessary so there was separation between work and home? Or did you discover more quality family time since you were home with each other 24/7? Did your marriage get stronger? Did you discover how indispensable someone who helped you at home was when they could no longer come to your place?
Who were the friends that were genuinely concerned about your well-being? Were they the same ones that were there when the entertainment and nights out were gone?
Did you have to collect Federal Aid when your job was eliminated?
Did you have to figure out other ways to make ends meet? Were you forced to reinvent yourself to find work? Did you pick up a hobby or something you kept putting off because you were never home enough to do it?
Did you decide you liked eating at home more and one or both of you learned to cook?
You will often find that there was a shedding of many unnecessary things and that allows you now to make space for your renewal and what’s ahead as the world opens up.
That leads us to Exercise 2. On that same piece of paper, write down, “What my Renewal looks like after the pandemic” and in this section, jot down all the things you want to do.
Write it out in as much detail as you can since these things become thoughts and the the thoughts become actions which become habits and a way of life. What better time to start? The days are longer, the world has reopened and you’ve learned much while you were in your pandemic cocoon.
Do you want to go back to the office, spend more time with your children, start a business or a side hustle, develop some new friendships, go back to Church or your place of worship, take that trip you’ve put off for some time. Give back to the world with volunteer work? Hopefully, you’ve had some time to explore yourself when there were fewer external distractions in the world.
On my renewal list. I have begun the process of purging items from my home – yes, this is something I’ve started and stopped many times but now, there seems to be a real need to rid myself of that which no longer serves my new life.
I have shred papers I have been holding on to that followed me in file boxes in three different homes! I have donated books and clothing and now I get to see some space –space to create newness.
I am preparing for a life transition as I prepare to sell my home now that the real estate is rebounding.
I am cutting out activities that take up time but aren’t aligned with my values. I was amazed when I did a schedule analysis of precious time wasted on these things. Time I will be using to focus on things that truly matter to me.
So what if I’m not up on the current season of “The Ozarks?” I am using my pandemic Netflix time to pour into my life calling business called, “My Magnus Opus” which was created to help you tell and craft your incredible and unique life story.
I will be traveling to see family I haven’t been able to spend much time with, meet a nephew born during COVID and take that long-anticipated trip to the place I love –Italy.
We will be celebrating my beautiful niece at her shower and wedding which was postponed by COVID.
I have reoriented relationships in my life that will always have positive meaning to me but don’t support the direction I am called to go in.
I want to continue making a difference in the lives of others.
And finally, I am spending more time on optimal health as a way of life -physically, emotionally and spiritually. I have taken many steps this past year to make that happen from at home workouts to eating whole foods and taking supplements.
I have created time to do a one hour weekly at-home spa ritual.
So now, here’s Exercise 3 which is the fun part.
Take one or two items that came from your self-discovery and write 3 steps that will help you achieve that goal.
As an example, from my list, I shared with you that I am pouring into my life calling business. What does that look like?
Next month, I will start private coaching. I’ll share the details about that in a future blog.
Here are my three steps to do that I am:
Developing my coaching offer
Making a video for my website and Facebook Community to explain the offer and
Setting up my monthly calendar with time slots allocated for coaching.
Three achievable steps and then I can slot time in my weekly schedule to do these things to make sure my goal is accomplished.
That’s it! You’ll suddenly have a schedule that reflects the you that you’re becoming – the renewed you!
I hope you’ll post some of your renewal goals or photos in our private group of supportive, inspiring individuals on Facebook. To join our group, please go to “My Magnus Opus Community” on Facebook.
I can’t wait to see what your Spring Renewal looks like!
Until next time, I’m sending you so much love and light!