Welcome

As I write we’re entering day 23 of lockdown in the UK and the world is in the grip of the worst global pandemic in living memory. As citizens we’re being asked to stay home to save lives and our economy has all but ground to a halt.

Amidst the daily horror of death, separation and suffering, people are increasingly talking about the need to take this time to reflect; to re-evaluate life from a fresh perspective and focus on what really matters. Easy to say, but sometimes hard to do.

Self-reflection requires time, focus, discipline and the willingness to sometimes find answers we’d rather not have found. I know this because I set up this blog nine years ago and lacking all of the aforementioned, put it away after drafting just a single post.

Now’s the time

I’ve published it now because if ever there was a time for self-reflection then this is most certainly it. Few people I know were truly happy with the status quo before all of this, but it was as if none of us quite wanted to be the first, or indeed the only ones stepping off the merry-go-round. But now the merry-go-round has stopped for us all. What now? What next?

This blog is my reflection on what it means to live in the world right now. It’s also my journey to discovering how I might re-build my life at the other end of this crisis.

I called it ‘It’s all about being’, because of something my late mum used to say to me when she wanted me to slow down (which was often). She’d say, ‘Remember, you’re a human ‘being’ not a human ‘doing’. In our consumption-obsessed world, I think it’s also worth remembering that who we are isn’t about what we have either.

An invitation

The format is simple: a personal reflection inspired by a single word that can be read in two minutes. Plus, an invitation to join the reflection. Either privately in your own space, here in the comments or on the soon to be published Facebook group.

As we regroup and re-build, let’s be the people we always wanted to be.

Much love,

E

xx

It’s not about doing or having…it’s all about being.