A Change (Or 3) Will Do Us Good*
Many of us looked forward to 2021 and the new year's possible changes -- getting vaccinated, trashing masks, putting on lipstick again. (OK, maybe the last one was just me!) After sudden and dramatic changes to work, school, and play, 2020 settled into a never-ending sameness of Zoom meetings and Google Meets. As we tiptoe into 2021 realizing that those changes might be far off, here are my top three tips for staying sane and maybe even happy, inspired by my 10 months as an exclusively online tutor and 23rd year teaching teens.
Set goals. Yes, 2020 upended plans. Weddings postponed, trips canceled, and worst of all, suffering and death. So why set goals at all? When hardships pushed what really matters into perspective, I saw value in working to make them real. For me, that meant staying close to family and keeping healthy. To achieve the latter, I committed to changing my diet to lose the “COVID 10” I gained. Unlike wearing my favorite lipstick again, this change is tough. But it’s also given me something to work towards as we enter the second year of lockdown. Sure, I miss the cornucopia of holiday treats. But I’m actually getting into tracking my food on the WW app and, more importantly, I feel good.
Photo by @slora18 on Unsplash
As an online tutor, I stress the importance of setting small goals. Whether it’s finally memorizing the 6-9 multiplication tables (as an online SAT tutor, I’ve seen lots of teens still struggle with these!) or reviewing Spanish vocabulary for 15 minutes per day, a small goal achieved convinces students in the efficacy of persistence and encourages them to continue choosing good habits.
Need more inspiration? Download my e-book on goal setting or come hear me speak at the New York Women in Business Conference on January 26!
2. Create joy with intention. Sure, fun was easier to find before March 2020 – but that doesn’t mean it’s disappeared completely! We just need to work a little harder to create the conditions for joy to flourish. For example, last year at this time, I was ziplining through the Costa Rican jungle; when I got back, I went salsa dancing on Leap Day.
Getting ready to ride the line in Costa Rica: pura vida!
While travel and dancing, two of my favorite fun activities, are on hiatus, I intentionally changed my joys by revisiting old passions, swimming, reading fiction, and painting. I joined an open water swim club in the summer, and an online book club with college friends in the fall, and hosted paint nights for those in my “pod” in January. Though these activities take some time and planning, they helped me do things I love with people I care about – two key components of joy. Even while working as an online tutor, I try to create a positive, fun vibe with students so that their work becomes – if not fun – at least not-so-painful!
ALMOST learning to surf in CR! Jan 2020
3. Think outside the box. Will your 2021 goals and joyful activities remain unchanged had COVID never happened? Of course not. Our new plans will have to adapt to our present circumstances. For teens, it’ll be easy to devolve into a “this-isn’t-fair” attitude. The best way we – parents and this online tutor alike! – can help them is by modeling our own skills of patience, flexibility, and perseverance to craft new goals and develop new habits of joy in our own lives. Doing so will require us all to be creative, change, and think way outside the box.
Have a goal, joy, or outside-the-box thought you’d like to share? Drop it in the comments below!
*Nod to Sheryl Crow for the title of this piece!