Embracing change and seeing the positives during this difficult time.

While some are able to stay at home, others are counted on to go to work ensuring things like grocery stores and hospitals stay open. One person’s reality may seem completely different from their neighbours; whether you’re a parent who now has to homeschool your children indefinitely or a doctor who’s risking your life every single day. It’s all incredibly overwhelming.

When I consider that pretty much every generation before me has had to deal with a war, it certainly helps put things in perspective. I am simply being asked to stay at home instead of being drafted (although one could argue that doctors, nurses and grocery clerks among others are in a similar danger). I am safe in my home, not “stuck” in my home I noted someone post on Facebook the other day (coming back to that thought helps fight those creeping feelings of isolation). And speaking of Facebook, thank goodness for social media right now! In a world where social distancing has quickly become the new norm, it’s been a blessing with helping us stay connected to friends and family (not to mention being a platform with which to showcase the overwhelming magnitude of creativity coming from people who now have wayyyy too much time on their hands).

A couple days ago I was scrolling through my feed and I saw something that really resonated with me. I can’t remember the exact words but basically, it said that right now we’re being given the gift of time, and we need to take advantage of it because we’ll likely never get this kind of opportunity again in our lifetime. And if you think about it, they’re 100% right. The world has literally come to a screeching halt, indefinitely pausing its never-ending turning of the proverbial hamster wheel. The pressure (in some respects) is off. It’s the perfect opportunity to self-reflect, self-heal, and if you have the means, work on projects that have long been collecting dust.

For me, that meant re-evaluating how I saw my business growing over the next 5 years. Clover & Crow has been in operation now for just over 8 years, and a couple years ago we branched out into the world of education. And while the first course The Freelancer’s Business Bootcamp got our “feet wet” you could say, I knew I wanted expand further into the education part of C+C (more to come on that soon!) So, I’m taking this time to work on the next phase of the business, something I’m over the moon excited about. I’m feeling grateful to have this time to focus and if I’m being honest, I’m feeling especially appreciative of the fact that (and I’m sure many of you can agree) I’m in a field that makes social distancing a whole lot easier. This especially rings true for me since I have asthma which puts me at high-risk.

So right now, I urge you to think about all the things you wish you had the time to do. Whether that’s working on your branding, your website, organizing your process, thinking about what you can do to give your clients the best possible experience ever. Maybe you’ve been wanting to take up punch needling (seriously if you don’t know what this is, get ready to be obsessed!) or maybe you now have the time to foster a dog. Maybe you’ve been wanting to figure out a way to give back well, pull out your sewing machines people and start making cloth masks! (Just bought a bunch of Rifle Paper Co. fabric to make a bunch for my family and friends!) Do a 30-day yoga challenge, organize the shopping trips within your family to reduce exposure, get a dog trick calendar, or reorganize your pantry. Build out a 2, 5 and 10 year plan for your business with short and long term goals to get to each milestone. Whatever you decide to do with your time, make sure you try something so that when we come out the end of this, we can all say we didn’t waste it away watching an egocentric zoo keeper / country music singer breed big cats, run for president and plot the murder of his biggest rival (if you have no idea what I’m talking about, I envy you).

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Stay safe and healthy, friends!

Amy

Embracing change and seeing the positives during this difficult time.

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