I keep coming back to this idea of the pandemic as an opportunity. Obviously its created a paradigm shift in how we live, some of it extremely painful. I don't want to dismiss the fact that so many of us have lost loved ones in any way. I lost a close friend myself. My nephew came down with the virus and had a heart attack during his recovery. Luckily, he's still with us.
But there's also a silver lining in here. Right now, people are quitting their jobs in record numbers, in what would appear to be a lemming-like leap over a cliff at a time like this, but there's clearly something deeper and meaningful fueling this existential drive.
The scales would seem to have fallen from our collective eyes. We've awoken from a societal coma and realized... what? That we really are so much more than just what we do, that this meat sack your boss sees sitting behind your computer screen is so far from being all that you are. Suddenly we have found the worth that the sheer drudgery of work, of having to survive from paycheck to paycheck had kept hidden from us for years.
So many of us have awoken to find they can no longer abide that soul-crushing commute, the endless, mind-flaying routine of work, rinse, repeat. There's so much more to life.
'Wow, I have a wife or girlfriend? And she's beautiful! I have kids...and I can spend time with them without feeling guilty about it? Where's that idea been hiding? The dog doesn't growl at me like a stranger any more. Life is quite suddenly...better. A lot better.
A good deal of this shift is in the balance of power. Corporations have awoken to the fact they need to start respecting their workers and paying them more than starvation wages while the CEO is on his yacht in the Aegean or they're going to be hemorrhaging cash before disappearing entirely. They're being forced into an uncomfortable place of humility. They should fear for the future because the old style of management is about to change dramatically. They were counting on you staying blissfully ignorant of your own power but that's precisely what's changed. That top-down structure has shown itself to be archaic, inefficient and unworkable. It needs to die in this new era. Something better must take its place.
The word, 'No' has re-entered the lexicon, and none too soon in my opinion.
'No, I will not. I'm worth more than that.'
And, if all else fails, my favorite - on your way out the door, 'With all due respect, go f*#k yourself.'
It's the perfect time to go and live that dream.
Try it on for size.