Acceptance

"Maybe this is the wake up call humanity needed. Maybe people needed to die for us to truly understand how wrong we’ve gotten it over the years. Maybe we needed a crisis to learn how to slow down, to simplify, to love, to put others before self and humanity before dollars. Just maybe we needed to be forced to change our daily lives to learn what really matters. To learn about our families, our neighbors, ourselves. Maybe this won’t be the thing that breaks us, maybe it will be the chapter that defines us in a way we can’t even comprehend right now." -Me

Welp, this year certainly isn't going as planned! Like everyone else I've had my ups and downs, a small nervous breakdown, a ton of anxiety and worry, but I think I've made it to the other side. I've gone through the stages of grief in my life many times (these stages apply in a ton of situations, not just death) and seemed to have developed a knack for reaching the acceptance phase in record time. I don't think this is something that can be learned or necessarily something to be proud of. Yes, you can build up resilience based on your life experiences but everyone is built different and this is just who I am. I am a weird version of optimist and realist and my belief is everything happens exactly as it should, even the really bad things. There's some misconception that life is supposed to always be beautiful and grand and we should always be happy and there's something wrong if we're not. Life is beautiful and it is ugly. It's grand and mundane. It can be easy and hard. We can be happy and sad, angry, content, all of it. All of those things simply are life, they're not good or bad, they just are and it's OK to be feeling any of them for however long you need.

Anyways, here we are, acceptance. The world is changing. Whatever normal existed prior to all of this is gone and it's not coming back. I personally would argue that's a good thing, but we won't go there right now. So we can sit and wallow and wish for what was, or we can accept that this is the current reality and start working with it. The future has never been guaranteed, this isn't new. This doesn't mean we don't work for a better future but it means you truly never know what is going to happen and we actually have far less control over things than we like to think.

I'm going to leave the health part out of this. I would hope it goes without saying that is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT thing everyone should be focused on. Caring for the sick, caring for those who are caring for the sick, stopping the spread, all of that is significantly more important than anything else I'm about to say but I wanted to offer some insight/advice/thoughts from the business side of things for everyone who is battling a financial crisis and struggling with the unknown for their career, particularly if you own a business.

First and foremost, we all need to accept that the world is fundamentally changing. It doesn't matter what business you are in, things are going to be different. There is not some magic wand that puts things back to the way they were once the executive orders are lifted. Anyone who is sitting trying to wait this out is going to struggle and likely be put out of business. This is the time to learn, grow, adapt, and adjust. Pay very close attention to how things are evolving and start adjusting now. The business you had pre-corona, is not the one you will have after and that is NOT a bad thing! If you are able to pivot and adjust to whatever the new normal becomes, you will thrive.

Now is the time to keep your eyes and ears open to opportunities. There are going to be so many new ways that we can contribute to society through this, some will align with what our current businesses are, and some will be totally new. Don't be so single focused on salvaging what was that you miss what else is out there. This is also the time to really evaluate your values. Who are you, want to do you want to contribute to the world, where do you see a need that you have the strengths to fill?

The people who find financial success after this are the ones that stop giving a crap about the finances (this was true prior to this crisis, but even more true now). Focus on people. Focus on service. Build relationships. Give of yourself until you have nothing left to give, then give a little more. Find ways to make the world around you a better place. A tangible example: Open up a private online group for free that is normally for paying members only and give MORE to that group than you have ever given before. Build those bonds and relationships and when you do adjust to paid programs, you already have a built in community ready to support you.

I haven't done a great job over the past 2 weeks but as I'm settling in, my personal goal with Happy People Hike is just that, build our community. We've lost a lot of income from cancelled events and people who don't see a cute hiking shirt as a necessity (weird, right?) so I'm not going to focus on sales. I'm going to build our community and pour my energy into those relationships. Maybe it leads to future sales, maybe it leads to something so much better than simply selling a t-shirt. The future is always unknown and that is a beautiful thing.

For the immediate future, this is it. A lot of us are staying safe at home, kids are home, travel plans are cancelled, it is what it is so it's time to accept that and settle into what life is going to look like for the next month or 2 or 3. For me it includes some daily activities like working out, walking dogs, reading, and business building, as well as a list of projects I've always wanted the time to do.

A lot of us have literally asked for this. Time. How often have you said, I wish I had time to do whatever. Looks like the universe gave you just that. If you are luckily enough to have the time and not be on the front lines of this working to save lives, don't waste it. These minutes, hours, days, weeks are still a part of the limited time we get on this earth. Time that so many others who are facing the end would give anything to have. Maybe these days don't look like what you wanted and there's not doubt they're hard, but they're still days and they still count. And I still want to be able to look back and know I did the absolute best I could with every minute I was given.