Hopped up on Vaccine: a Pandemic Promesa.
It may have been the 40,000 ft above Los Angeles going 500 mph or the possibility that the water vortex could easily dismember my arm that left me feeling anxious and exceptionally vulnerable the first time I flushed a toilet on a plane. Once I managed to pry myself out of the lavatory in the sky I paused and took a long deep breathe- never again. (Seriously, I practically dehydrate myself before getting on a plane now.)
Except I haven’t gotten on a plane since March of 2020. Though I do intend to fly again soon, I don’t intend to hop back on my 500 mph lifestyle I was leading before the pandemic. Problem is I’m having a real hard time keeping my own new post(ish) pandemic pace when the starter called everyone back to the blocks on a false start but all the runners just kept going anyway- including me.
Like many of you I made myself a pandemic promesa, a promise. You know the one I’m talking about where we promised ourselves and our loved ones that if we lived through the pandemic our lives would be different. That we would use our time more wisely and align it to what we value most. That we would choose what to do with our time and not allow others to choose for us or allow ourselves to be swallowed into the proverbial FOMO that preexisted COVID. But here we are in 2021 all hopped up on vaccines and it really has me wondering: did our pandemic promesa just become the NEW New Year’s resolution?
Like most resolutions, my pandemic promesa was well intentioned, good for me, and goal centric but then the world started reopening and my social media feed started highlighting llama farms and how to make French press coffee for your first post vaccine brunch. Apparently Instagram was just the gateway feed I needed to google, “How to make French press coffee” and, for a second, my pandemic promesa was derailed. It would’ve been a meaningful google search except I 100% have never wanted to learn to press coffee in any language. ;)
After I exited Amazon’s “Buy French coffee press now” page I reminded myself of my promesa: to wake up every morning in gratitude and prayer, to continue leading a family centric life, to say yes to opportunities that were aligned to my (and my family’s) values and goals and to say no to opportunities that did not serve me or my family and to use time as I do money- as a valuable resource that must be invested wisely in ways that are important to me.
So that’s what this is.
Storytelling is valuable to me. My voice is valuable to me and my prayer is that my stories will impact at least one person a day and that they (or you) will be positively impacted because I told a story that resonated.
I’m not sure how your pandemic promesa is going but I urge you to remind yourself at least weekly of what that promesa is and then hold yourself to it. As you set your plan for the week be sure that it aligns to your promesa and if upon reflection it doesn’t then, just like any resolution, be kind to yourself, reset and try again.
*I’d love to hear how your pandemic promesa is going! Share with me on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook on @soy_dalinda
