When I was younger, I made some decisions that I shouldn't have. And, in hindsight, I've almost always been wrong when I haven't listened to myself.
-- Daniel Day-LewisI would find myself getting deeply distressed if I lived in hindsight all the time.
-- Andrew Lincoln
I will begin by stating the obvious; What a strange moment in history to be living in currently. Secondly, I want to begin by saying thank you to all of the educators in this country that are beginning this school year unlike any we’ve ever seen. Besides the challenge of teaching our youth, or educating individuals in college seeking professional development, they are also tasked with engaging with people’s lives that have been turned upside down by Covid19, racial unrest, political division, wild fires and other natural disasters. To put the cherry on top all sports have been impacted including Big Ten football. This really was the Wolverines year to beat the Buck-nuts in football…..Damn Corona!!
During this period it has been difficult for me at times to navigate everyday normal life without feeling the traumatic changes of our world. I keep wondering how we will look back on this year? What new insights will be revealed that we don’t yet know? It seems that so much has happened this year revealing so many more cracks within the infrastructure of our nations social norms, medical practices, political divisions, educational reform, and financial “stability.”
In my own personal processing I’ve been thinking about the phrase “Hindsight is 2020.” What is the significance of this phrase as we move closer to the end of 2020? This is a saying which means that “It's easy to know the right thing to do after something has happened, but it's hard to predict the future.” 20/20 means perfect vision. So when you put those together, "Hindsight is 20/20" means that you can easily tell what you should have done in the past, but it's harder to decide what to do in the future.
When people use this phrase, they usually want to express one of these ideas:
You shouldn't worry about your past decisions, because you can't change them now.
Don't criticize what I did, because I made the best decision I could at that time.
Reflecting back on our personal journey in 2020, what have you discovered about yourself thus far? Has their been progress in certain areas of your life, or do you feel like you’ve unintentionally tumbled down life’s mountain, like the picture above. Focusing on what we have control over, ourselves, give us the greatest opportunity to make change in our personal lives, and for the greater good of this world. I don’t mean just selfishly, more so selflessly for others.
Without possibly trying to wrap my mind around the complexities of our current existence, I have consciously committed to staying focused on being the best version of myself in all areas of my life that I have control over. One example that I can share that has been life changing in more than one way, yet seems so basic. After hearing a client tell me that he’s doing 100 push ups daily, and how awesome he felt, I felt inspired to do more in the physical area of my life. Since that day I have exceeded doing more than one hundred push ups, and I have to admit I feel accomplished in more than one way. This simple exercise does more than firm my flabby moobs, it works multiple muscle groups, get’s my heart pumping, including exercising the thought processes of my brain. These seconds of simple exercise helps me to reset my thinking in times of angst, helping to rewire my overall mindset. Many times we focus on stress or negative thought patterns that “somehow” (social media), creep into our daily existence unconsciously.
During this time I challenge all people to implement small actions that will keep your holistic health firing to it’s potential. Here are some examples:
Daily intentional breathing. While you pray, meditate, or sit. Do the research on breathing into our masks (not good). Now is the time to take in more oxygen intentionally.
Increase self awareness. When you identify what it is, change can happen.
Drink more water. Not pop, not coffee, not beer or liquor. WATER.
Boost your immune. Yes you can actually do that! It will mean removing and adding to your diet and lifestyle.
Simplify your schedule. This is within the top 3 issues I see in clients of all ages today. I know from personal experience how difficult this is to do.
Go outside. Vitamin D is another virus killer. That means minimizing TV, social media, video games.
Give. Your time, resources, compliments. Unsolicited acts of giving always return somehow.
For me it’s evident. Back to the basics. I’d hate to look back on this year and say “in hindsight, I should have done more.” If you or a loved one can use assistance in discovering what it looks like “doing more,” or like to process all of “the more” in your life, reach out to someone that will listen and hopefully guide you towards epic discovery in 2020.