With the recent success of the various vaccines and the growing numbers of people who are now vaccinated, it is time to begin our journey back to in-person interactions at work, home and in our social lives.
With the recent success of the various vaccines and the growing numbers of people who are now vaccinated, it is time to begin our journey back to in-person interactions at work, home and in our social lives.
Alexander Jewish Family Service Friends –
The last few days I have been reminiscing about the old days – the days before Zoom, the days before I knew how to mute and un-mute, the days before I knew how to create a background, use a filter, manage my microphone and create the appropriate lighting for videoconferencing. I remember how overwhelming and strange it all seemed and how eager I was to put it behind me and return to “normal”. There is a saying that, “We are what we repeatedly do.” – and so, in the year since we first started physically distancing to protect us from COVID what was once strange, unusual and uncomfortable has become our new “normal”. Zoom has become a habit and now we have organized our lives around using it.
With the recent success of the various vaccines and the growing numbers of people who are now vaccinated, it is time to begin our journey back to in-person interactions at work, home and in our social lives. As we do this, it is natural that we will at times feel anxious and unsure. Living with physical distancing has become our new normal and is now our comfort zone.
The author and speaker Manoj Arora reminds us that:
“Coming out of your comfort zone is tough in the beginning, chaotic in the middle, and awesome in the end…because in the end, it shows you a whole new world.”
In this case, it might be more accurate to say that leaving our comfort zone will re-introduce ourselves to the world we left behind a year ago. I imagine that as we move forward there will be things that we want to carry with us and continue doing even when they are not needed for safety and that is wonderful. Learning and growing is a part of life and each experience we have brings us the opportunity to learn and grow. The important thing to remember is that growing and thriving means moving forward. Each of us may move at a slightly different pace - or find different parts easy or hard - but it is time to begin the journey.
Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist best known for creating Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, advises us:
“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.”
As we begin our path forward it is important to remember that we do not have to be good or perfect to start– we need only try. If we try, even if we stumble along the way, we learn something and when we learn we have the opportunity to correct our course and keep moving forward.
Thank you for all that you are doing to support and uplift our community.
Take care,
Carl
Carl E. Josehart, MSW (he/him/his)
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