Values

One of the benefits of this pandemic is the opportunity to really consider what is important and what is not.  

What do I value? What do I really miss?  Where do I stand on different issues?  What do I want to do or who do I want to be when we get to the other side of this?

There are some things that became even more clear over the past year while other things become cloudy.

I love to hike, run, ride and explore.  Thankfully, I was able to do most of those things.  I am glad that much of my personal entertainment comes from roaming around in a forest.

I miss city life and travel, theatre, soccer, concerts and watching my son wrestle.

I miss casually chatting with my students and coworkers and I miss the amount of time I spent moving around at work.

I also miss talking to strangers.  I miss those fleeting moments where you connect with someone passing by or sitting near you in a restaurant or waiting at an office.

  

Turns out I don't really miss baseball that much, and I don't miss movies, parent information nights at school and seeing some of my coworkers.  

There are many aspects of my job that I hate.

While I miss going to church, I don't actually miss my church.

As differing perspectives on race, politics, and economic plans have shaken this country, I have been forced to take the time to really think, learn more and decide where I stand and what I believe.

Nothing seems simple anymore. 

It is typically times of struggle that people connect more with their values and this pandemic is no different.  I do believe that we are walking through a refining fire.  This time of hardships and challenges will burn away the excess, the waste, the show, and leave the core of who we are.  Better, wiser, stronger if we learn from this fire.