Things are different, not worse. Some would beg to differ! The way these last couple of years have been, it seems that we may not have many good days ahead. I find myself thinking about “back in the day”. Remembering when I did not have a need to coordinate a mask with my outfit. When I could actually pass a smile on to a stranger and they did not have to assume I was smiling. Traveling and going about my business without restrictions seems like a thing of the past. Seems like we can’t go any higher or do anymore than we are today and it can be frustrating.

I have had a lot of good happen in the midst of this mess and I have to admit that. This has mentally broken a lot of people and I hate that many are losing hope. We have to work daily on ways to take our power back and begin to see better days. We have so much more to look forward to if we don’t quit and/or lose hope. Things are different, not worse. This is all about our mindset.

how?

Things are different. They are what a lot of us are calling “out of the normal”. If we think about it, things are always changing. What we did and thought years ago is different. Things are not the “normal” that they were then. So, for me, normal changes and it does not always mean that it is going to be worse! The pandemic may have brought you different friends, a different way of living, ideas of home improvement, fun, and habits. Does not mean that things are worse…Just different.

We also were given time to look at what we have and what we have lost. So much loss! What if we could think back to what we no longer have and appreciate it. Not feel bad because we no longer have it, but appreciate the opportunity to have experienced it. Nothing that we have been through makes us completely who we are. Those things are just a small a part it. We enjoyed it. Those things shaped us, excited us, and taught us. Appreciate them for the time you had them. You don’t need to go back to them in order to feel alive. A lot of them will be things we can never go back to. That even means the friends and exes that have been lost.

It is not unhealthy at all to look back on relationships and experiences that we have had and think about the treasured moments. They were what we needed then and we bring them forward with us. For multiple reasons. We just don’t have to go back to them to be whole.

Here and now

We have made it this far and we have to be grateful. We have no idea how long this part of the journey will be but we are guaranteed to grow through it if we choose that mindset. It’s different now, not worse. Definitely different.

Many of us are headed back to the office and children back to school. Some of us have chosen to put travel off, eat differently, get into shape, go back to school, fall in or out of love, cook more, take more baths or walks, etc. It’s different now, not worse.

transitioning with potential

We are transitioning in different ways. Adapting and growing nonetheless. You  have the potential to do so many things, even in this season of our lives. We have had time to think about our standards and if there should be some changes. Many of us probably have different goals, friends, and expectations now. We are experiencing a reset! One we most likely needed really bad.

When we think about potential, we are not looking in the past. Our potential cannot be behind us. We have potential and plenty of it. We can get to our goals and live in and beyond the standards that we have set for ourselves. If you know this, you know that it is impossible for our best days to be behind us.

We are living in the days of our potential now and they are in the days ahead. Right now we are living in these different times. The days that we wish to be “normal”, whatever that is. Let’s embrace different and not see it all as something negative. Let’s work within our potential and create something different and beautiful. Things can be a different kind of beautiful.

It’s different now, not worse. Make that true for you!