It can be easy to look at the downsides of the global Pandemic, a reduction in income, perhaps the loss of a job. These are stressful times which is why it’s even more important to focus on our wellbeing, reduce our stress, and look for opportunities for inspiration.
Inspiration can manifest in various forms. It can be a creative urge caused by something we’ve seen or heard. Or it can be an inner desire to pursue an activity that we’ve neglected for many years. With the lockdown now firmly in place for months to come, it’s time to look for opportunities to stay inspired and learn new things.
Get into Wellness
Wellness can mean different things to different people. For some, it means healthy eating and physical activity; for others, it means creativity and meditation. If you don’t know what supports your wellbeing, the Pandemic is an excellent time to find out. With reduced working hours and unnecessary stress, a bit of self-exploration can work wonders.
Identifying what wellness practices work best for you is the first step to effective self-care and pursuing a passion successfully. When we find our own wellness habits, we begin to make that the centre of our day. This not only helps us to de-stress and supports our system; it creates the best space for us to make decisions about what we need.
Find a Meditation Practice
Similar to finding a wellness lifestyle to support your wellbeing, finding a meditation practice that works for you could be the best thing you ever do. And what better time to do it than when you are restricted to your home or local area. Broadly there are two types of meditation practice to choose from. There is mindfulness meditation and oneness meditation.
Mindfulness meditation can be practised formally, in a seated position, or casually as you go about your day. Pay attention to your breathing, in and out. Any time you get distracted or find your mind wandering, bring your attention back to your breath. In and out. For oneness meditation, first, focus on self-kindness for 10 minutes. Next focus on kindness for a friend for 10 minutes. Next, focus your kindness on a difficult person in your life.
Look for Online Opportunities
After you have found a wellness routine that supports your system and lifestyle, you will be best placed to consider what your passions are and what activities will bring more joy into your life. It’s important to choose these activities carefully as they will require an investment of your time and energy. Make sure you are cancelling it in the best direction.
Whatever passion you decide on there will be online and offline opportunities to make a start with it, even during the Pandemic. The Covid Crisis has caused many activities to stop; however, you’d be surprised at how many have successfully transposed to an online environment. Writing classes, art classes, exercise classes. Almost anything you can imagine now has an online version, so you don’t have to miss out.
Be Productive
With the pandemic lockdown now expected to last well into next year, it can be easy to slip into inertia, even if you do have a passion or interest that you enthusiastically pursue. Working and living from home means we have to be creative in our approaches to finding credit card debt relief and staying inspired.
The way to deal with this is to make a schedule for yourself and use productivity tools to stay motivated and to get results. Have a morning routine of getting up, eating some healthy food and meditating. Have a well planned out workday that finishes at a certain time, then schedule a time to exercise or relax. Productivity tools such as the 80/20 rule can help you get more results from your day with less investment of time and energy.
Learn New Things
Whether it’s for your job or passion, the pandemic lockdown is an excellent opportunity to skill up and learn new things. Part of the creative process is about introducing our brains to new stimuli and generating fresh ideas as a result. What better time to do this than when we have lots of spare time at home.
Online platforms such as Xed and Coursera are credible places to skill up. You can not only find something of interest to learn on them, but you will achieve a course certificate at the end that can serve you well in your career. The Pandemic is a difficult time for everyone, so it’s important to keep well and look for growth opportunities.
I love Udemy for online courses. There have been so many free opportunities come around for learning online. It is fantastic.
This is great. I definitely embraced some passion searching during this pandemic! Made lemonade from lemons!
I think it’s the perfect time to start something new and productive . These are all such great ideas
This pandemic is so stressful, having some type of meditation practice is important. A lot of people are talking about self-care lately, so I hope its helping those who need it most.
I love the positive spin here! It has helped me so much to see the pandemic as an opportunity to reevaluate my commitments and to be more intentional about where I am investing my time and energy.
It is the perfect time to pursue one’s passion. And who knows what it could become, that is the exciting thing right now.
I have definitely spent more time learning how to tend my garden and while it did not yield much fruit (literally!), it was rewarding simply for the time spent outside
I’m so grateful to be able to pursue a passion during these tough times! I actually started our online baby boutique. Something that I’ve been wanting to do for years. When I realized that tomorrow is not promised, I made it my mission to make my passions a reality.
I wish I had more time but I seem to have less!
I like taking the time to learn something new.
This is so helpful and finding an online opportunity is such a great idea. It is pandemic proof and very flexible 😄
I have followed my passion for writing after starting my own blog. During this panademic, the best thing that happned with me is this blog.