5 Lessons Coronavirus Has Taught Me that You Can Take Away

It is not an exaggeration to say that we live unprecedented times. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected and will affect our world at any level: social, economic, scientific, political, cultural, spiritual, and personal.
 In the midst of this turmoil, I was not an exemption. Was infected one month ago, and was forced to reduce my work activity (which made me feel sad because my work is both my mission and passion). On the other hand, remember that there is always a benefit and an opportunity in any negative situation, including a disease and a social crisis. It depends whether you consider your glass as ”half-full” or “half-empty”. So, here are the 5 lessons from my COVID-19 experience that can have an important positive impact on your life:

1) The Importance of Reflection

The modern western society promotes primarily the culture of “doing”. The more things you do, the more things you’ll be able to achieve, hence the more you and your value will be recognized by others. You just need to “keep on going”. Plus, the more busy you are, the more you look good to others. And all of these for what reason? To succeed. But remember: Success without happiness is the ultimate failure. Why? Because your actions, your goals, your “doing” need to align with your values, your ideal life vision, yourself, your “being”. 

In other words, first you get crystal-clear on what are the things in life that matter most for you, as well as what person you want to become, and then you take massive action towards them. 
But here’s the trap: Even if you’re crystal-clear on what you want and who you want to become; even if your ” doing” aligns with you being, there’s always the possibility to lose track of your goals, your dreams and aspirations just because of the constant “doing” itself! In my case, although I was very clear on my goals and vision and was taking constant action towards them, realized that the actions I was taking were not serving me and my goals as much as I expected.

More precisely, I was spending too much time in the product development than in building relationships with people I could serve and who could serve me! Because business is all about relationships and trust. It was thanks to the need of my recovery that I took the time to pause and reflect. Not just on work itself, but on myself and my “being”. 
Self-reflection eliminates the “noise” and distractions around you and helps you to remember and focus on what matters most for you. And focus is key for you to achieve what you want to achieve and become the person you want to become . 

2) The Value of Self-care

Being in the routine of “doing”, it’s very easy to neglect your health, whether it has to do with your nutrition, the quality of your sleep or exercising. In my case, have neglected my nutrition, which led me to have much lower levels of energy during the day, making me less productive. So, I took the time to get back to my salads and healthy meals! What are the things that you have neglected for yourself? Time to act on them!

3) Hold the Big Picture

Because of our modern culture of “doing”, it’s so easy to forget your dreams, big goals and aspirations. You can easily get sucked in the whirlpool of trivial things, and focus your energy towards the wrong direction for you. Personally, was focusing on the fact that I could not work, which made me feel even more frustrated! After a few days, it just hit me: I was complaining about something that was out of my control. What can I control? My mood and my state of mind, by focusing on the things that matter most to me! Then I said ” Hey, what if this is a test? A test for both your resilience and patience? “. Then I asked myself “What is your vision? Your Why?”, which is to inspire 3 billion people in 195 countries to find their passion at work! 

In that moment, I realized that this personal challenge was part of the process of becoming the person that can truly serve this vision. That is, someone with extremely high levels of patience and resilience. 
Always hold the big picture in mind; because this way, you’ll always find a way to turn your challenges and hardships into opportunities, for your self-growth and self-mastery. 

4) Spend Time With Your Loved Ones

Have you ever been “busy enough”, so you were telling to yourself “I don’t have time for x,y,z?” As a result, your personal relationships might not have been the exception here. At least that was what I realized for myself. Didn’t spend enough time with my friends, family and loved ones, just because I was so absorbed by my daily work routine. Needless to say, I reached out to and did spend quality time with them!

Talk with your loved ones. Set a specific time and day in the week to catch up with them. Doesn’t have to be for hours! Even a few minutes will make a difference in your life and theirs. 

5) Invest in Yourself 

The fact that I was able to not only maintain my composure under these circumstances, but also to make the most out of this personal challenge, is a strong proof of the work I’ve been doing with myself in the last two years. Because two years ago I invested the majority of my savings in personal development and coaching (yes, a coach should always getting coached to be able to serve others at her best). The return on the investment? The development of patience, resilience, self-awareness, courage, as well as the “Growth mindset”. That is, your capacity to turn the negative into positive, the hardships into wisdom, the curses into blessings, the impossible to possible, operating from a place of abundance, unconditional social contribution, and infinite possibilities.

A place where there is no fear, but excitement for the new ways to serve others and make the world a better place. And there has never been a greater opportunity in the last decades for us to leverage a crisis like this as the ultimate opportunity to reconstruct and change the world for the better; and remember what Mahatma Gandhi said: “If you want to change the world, start with yourself”.