Flipping the Script.

As we’ve navigated through the uncertainty that surrounds the COVID pandemic, I’ve heard repeated more than once the mantra, “Live each day as if it’s my last”. I understand at the heart of that statement is the intent of gratitude, empowerment and positivity, but to me that statement always seems to have a very definitive (and implied not-so-happy) ending to it. As an incurable optimist, I prefer to flip the script on that statement and be guided by the mantra “live each day as if it’s my first“. The first day of school. The first day of a vacation. The first day with a new child. The first day of a new job. Living each day as if it’s the first gives me a sense of unlimited hope and opportunity. And ‘hope’ and ‘Opportunity’ are two words that if we repeat them enough to ourselves, we can have the courage to get through anything.

This mantra has served me surprisingly well during the time of COVID. It seems like there are so many ‘firsts’ just naturally occurring constantly in our lives, both personally and professionally. Creating virtual instructional models for first time, using various remote learning technologies for the first time, creating the best-ever COVID karaoke sessions with family for first time…the list of firsts is a mile long and grows every day. But I’ve found when I see these firsts through the lens of hope and opportunity, it creates an excitement that allows me to not only survive all the change, but thrive in it.

So as I walk through the annual ritual of transitioning from one year to the next, here’s to wishing all of you an amazing 2021 and a year in which you live each day like it’s your first!