Just recently, I celebrated my one year anniversary of two dates associated with starting to work from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just Stay Home
Truthfully, I am normally terrible at remembering dates (with only a few exceptions). However, these dates are forever seared into my memory. Last year, on March 11th (a Wednesday), my workplace asked us to stay home. Fortunately, we were already set up for work from home (we were allowed to work from home one day per week). I later understood that we were testing the capacity for so many to work from home at once. We stayed home the following day. Then, on Friday, March 13th, we were told to remain home. Since then, most of us have primarily worked from home. It was my son’s last day in school for the year and, if memory serves me correctly, it was my wife’s first day of regularly working from home, too. Most everything in Michigan shut down that day.

A New Kind of Normal
So, it’s been almost one year of working from home. During this time, I have experienced all kinds of changes. I have re-worked work tech setup multiple times. Similarly, I have reworked my work routine numerous times. Speaking only for me, I don’t mind working from home and my work productivity has actually increased. I would say that it’s even been better than when I used to go in. While I have thrived working from home, I know that there are some colleagues that can’t wait to return (even if this means, for the foreseeable future, 1-2 days per week).

In my community, from the beginning and still ongoing, some of our neighbors share what we have with each other. Did someone get a food delivery and has some extra X that needs a new home? They’ll put out a private social media post to get rid of that extra or “unwanted Food.” When someone might experience troubles, we’ll swarm them with our support. Maybe someone’s getting rid of furniture, books or other household goods, so they might send a private message or perhaps post to a community Facebook group to sell or give away. In these specific instances, I have seen our past and present circumstances further bringing our community together.

The Good That Came From The Bad
I talked about some of the positives. Now, I have to mention some of the negatives. Within my network, I know of at least three people in the food/restaurant industry that went through intermixed periods of employment/unemployment. We have known of two entire families and a few individuals that were sickened with COVID. Between my wife and I, we have known numerous people (easily counted on at least two hands) that have died.

At least from my own perspective and personal experience, there has been much “good” that has come from the resulting “bad” of this past year. At the same time, I recognize that we are more fortunate than some.

Let me share some questions to provide food for thought that may help you to find the good you may have:

• If you don’t go much into the office, have you been able to use some of the resulting time from your disappeared commute to take a step back to look at your life? If not yet (Medium), could you change that? While the work commute took you out of the home, could it have served as a distraction?

• If you go out and socialize face-to-face less than before, do you feel less stress from not having to say yes? Once that you personally find it more prudent to resume going out more, do you feel that (in your head) it will be more acceptable for you to still turn down some invitations?

• During the height of the pandemic when you may have kept in touch with loved ones through phone or video calls (Zoom, FaceTime, etc.), did those conversations become more intentional? Once that you resume more face-to-face interactions with loved ones, do you feel that you’ll be more appreciative and grateful of the time together?

• If either you or someone that you know went through difficulties resulting from the pandemic, did you realize that you may have taken some of your past blessings for granted? For example, I think of Clark Griswold in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation ordering a pool only to realize that his expected yearly bonus wasn’t coming in. If you have recovered or have nearly recovered, are you now a little more thankful than you were before?

You Are More Amazing Than You Think (And Deserve To Give YOURSELF More Credit)
Most of us can probably say that there have been moments of this pandemic that we’ve survived (something) or even have gone past or around an obstacle. There were moments that we were confronted with little idea of what to do. We may have figured out a solution or, at least, kept going. Are you still standing? Most days, when you can say this (even weakly), is a good day. My deepest hope is that you can start to understand this for yourself. YOU DESERVE TO GIVE YOURSELF MORE CREDIT.

Keep On, Keeping On
So, it’s been a year. You are still here. We are still here. We have still managed to move forward. In my area, numbers were mostly going down. Schools are starting to reopen more. Vaccines are becoming more readily available. For those that are sick, I understand that treatments have progressed tremendously from a year ago. As hard as it’s been, many of us have taken steps to help keep numbers down. As our understanding (of the pandemic) improves, I hope that our continued effort to fight it similarly improves, as well.

On the 11th, I watched a segment of “Let It Rip” on Fox 2 Detroit looking back on this past year. Something about it made me think about how, while there has been a lot of loss, that loss isn’t necessarily complete. Every day, we should work to tilt the scales less towards loss. What can we do with what we still have or what we may have gained?

So, yes, it’s been an incredible (defn. hard to believe) year. This horrid virus that changed so much is hard to believe, but so are the positive changes in ourselves and in those around us. Speaking only for myself, I know that my already present sense of gratitude was deepened. When I talk to my loved ones, I conclude with “I love you.” When I get paid, receive a bonus or a gift, I give a profound “thank you” because what comes today could easily disappear tomorrow. Truthfully, the biggest gift to come this year for some is a stronger sense of what is real versus what is not.

So whether you’re doing relatively fine or are still bouncing back, you’re still here. Please remember that the moments when you’re still here are miracles and blessings. From the hard effort put in to the help that you have received and a little bit of luck, it all brought you to this moment.

GIVE YOURSELF CREDIT FOR YOUR HARD WORK. YOU’RE STILL STANDING.

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