Turning pandemic depression into the best ever after

The pandemic threat is a fertile ground for the darkest nastiest thoughts about the future and about ourselves. Allowing worrying and depressing thoughts leads to a downward spiral. Before you know it you are wallowing in self-pity. You are feeling powerless, paralyzed and hopeless. The world turns into a dark dangerous place. A self-fulfilling prophecy follows. You become powerless and hopeless.

Right now we cannot afford any of this nonsense. It’s like getting invited to an expensive dinner the night before your most important interview, meeting, or a test that your career life depends on. What do you do? That’s right! You say thank you, but no thank you. As tempting as it is, you keep your eyes on the prize, you thank and politely decline. Right now is the same, except there’s no entry in your calendar for that interview, meeting or test. And the dinner invitation is the temptation to give into panic.

How not to give in? What to do? Make that calendar entry.

Tomorrow is the most important day of your life. It will define the trajectory of your future. It can make a difference between a life of an ordinary, habitually stressed out individual scrambling to keep up, and a life of a doer, achiever, contributor and a visioner.

What if, everything you have done until now has only been a preparation for that most important day of your life? What if, all the mistakes you have made, the wrong turns taken, the opportunities squandered, the money lost, relationships ruined… what if all of those were the stepping stones, the lessons learned, the rites of passage to this perfect point in your life when you have the experience, the knowledge, the gratitude, and the discernment to write the most amazing chapter of your life?

You may think it is too late. You can never catch up in your career, get to where you are supposed to be at this stage in your life, you cannot undo your failed relationships. You are too old to have a clean slate. Please do not make me quote those stats about how so many people started their most brilliant chapters mid-life. You have seen it. And you may have thought to yourself “well, it is Ariana Huffington”. You have a point. Her name has that special ring to it. But hey so does yours. Just got to find the right ear.

What if the way forward was to give your passion the light of the day instead of trying to catch up in that current career of yours? What if the way forward was to work on a relationship with yourself instead of worrying about the one you’ve ruined? What if you gave yourself permission to excel at You? The upside is that nobody can compete with you at You. The downside is that people may (and will) think you are weird. Our common fear is that if we show up as us, people would reject us and the ruin would be complete. And last but not least, how would you make a living?

I do not know the answer to that last one. They say that once you have stepped on your true path, the universe conspires to help you. What I do know though is that living the rest of your life stifled, afraid, and crumbled is not a life you dreamed of when you were a kid. And it is surely not a life you will be proud of at your deathbed. So, what is it going to be?

If you need inspiration, write a eulogy for yourself. I’ve done it. Works wonders.