Finding Perspective Amid a Pandemic (Ep. 46)

Happy Corona Week/Month/Quarter. Things seem to be changing faster than any of us can keep count. Life has been turned upside down, which was fun for a hot minute until things got even crazier.  We have a two year old. My wife is full time employed, I’m self employed. We are all working from home - Gabby on her work, me on mine, Isabelle on Frozen 2. I’m not balding - but if the next eight weeks go as well as the past two days - I will be by April.  In stressful times, I like to go on a long run. It’s where I do my best thinking; I get to go into my own head and have a nice, little, split personality conversation with myself. The people on the trail think I’m crazy, but whatever, I can run faster than them.  My “thinking running” helps me gain perspective. I’m able to jump back and forth between big picture and me picture; separating problems I can solve from circumstances I need to respond to. And on this run, my perspective was focused on what I needed to do to make it through eight weeks of isolation (or whatever this ends up being). Last year, I organized my thoughts on wellness. I gave an overview, and then detailed episodes on the three components: physical, mental and social. I was pretty proud of it - and it’s a model I use all of the time. I went through the checklist on my run. Here's a fun, fancy picture I drew: Go back and read more on the details - of each if you are looking for definition, but this is how I operate at my best. I’m out of whack because my wellness routine was out of whack. When something isn’t clicking for me - I go through the checklist. And I realized that for many people, such a major disruption for your routine is going to smack us upside the wellness category.  Cabin fever and depression are no joke. Fortunately, we are able to go for walks around the block (for now). As a coach, I have a career of helping people adapt and adjust to change. While it's primarily in a strategic, business-focused work setting and way, the facts remain: your home is now your office, and you are responsibility for delivering your best work from home. That starts with you. So with that, I want to help you re-visit your wellness. Now, I can’t tell you how to tackle these things for you - only you can. A recommendation to just “go for a walk” is worthless if you have a broken leg. But from a macro-visual perspective, I would encourage everyone to give some thought to the three areas below, and what you can do to hit all cylinders.  We are in an unusual, uncomfortable time. And in order to respond at our best, we have to make sure all of these items are working in tandem. It takes work, focus and an effort to be intentional, from physical to mental to social. It’s important to think through what works for you in each of the below areas.  More details are on the podcast - but here are my points for being “well” in isolation. Physical Wellness The three components here are diet, fitness and sleep, and the key reminder is to be intentional. You need all three to be in good operation. When diet struggles, so do fitness and sleep (and vice versa). If you eat right and do something active, your sleep is better. It’s the circle of life, Simba.  Here are some individual points to remember on physical:  Diet: tends to go to shit in times of stress. If you are like me, you overeat when stressed or bored. Eating well requires focus, and intentionally planning/preparing your 2-3 meals is vitally important. I’ve cut out snacking completely simply because I know I will balloon if I don’t.