Personal Growth During Covid-19

If you are like most people, COVID has you stressed. You may feel tired, anxious, worried, lonely and depressed. You may feel annoyed by those who aren’t taking the pandemic seriously enough and equally perturbed by those who are hoarding all of the Clorox wipes and toilet paper. However, by focusing on the things we can control right now, we create a tremendous opportunity for personal growth.

“Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.” I love this quote by Pastor Chuck Swindoll. If we want to build strength, build resilience, and grow from our current situation we have to be intentional about focusing on what we can control right now.

We have two choices. We can succumb to the stress and anxiety of this pandemic or we can leverage the opportunity to create personal growth. Even with all of the uncertainty surrounding us, there are many things we can control. We can control our mindset, our attitude, our gratitude, our work ethic, our compassion, and our speech, and by doing so we will positively impact our lives.  Even controlling the way we breathe can provide massive benefits for us.

I do want to acknowledge that using the COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity for personal growth is, in many ways, a luxury that many people don’t have available to them. For the sick, the elderly, those with compromised immune systems, and those who have lost jobs and are unable to support their families this pandemic is catastrophic, and in no way am I trying to minimize the seriousness of the consequences that so many are facing.

However, I wholeheartedly believe that there are lessons that can be learned during this crisis that will not only help us to grow personally but will improve and support our communities as a whole.

President John F. Kennedy once noted, “When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters—one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity.” We have a choice to either focus on our losses or our gains. Our capacity to respond positively to COVID19 will be determined by our ability to let go of the things we cannot control and embrace the things we can.

This week, I will be offering tips to help you stay focused on what you can control to build resilience during COVID19. I hope you join me in the conversation on Instragram or Facebook as I dive into a different topic each day. I look forward to “seeing” you there.