I filled my lockdown memoire with growth, happiness and gratitude. How do you want to write yours?
One day you will tell your story of how you've overcome what you're going through now, and it will become part of someone else's survival guide" - Brene Brown.
Since mid-March 2020, we have all gone through the challenges of the pandemic and lockdowns - from MCO to CMCO, RMCO and now MCO 2.0.
Everyone has different challenges and experiences. When we ponder and reflect over the past year, we all have our own stories to tell – some are positive and some negative. While quite a few people suddenly found themselves out of a job, changed jobs, or started a new business, there are also many who were able to achieve even more during the pandemic. For sure, for many the pandemic will be remembered as a turning point.
My girlfriend who owns a travel agent business has landed herself in a baking business - selling cookies and cakes online. She is doing well and has been enjoying filling her time being busy with her next big seasonal sales – Chinese New Year’s cookies.
As the saying goes, “Every cloud has a silver lining” - it means that you should never feel hopeless because difficult times often lead to better days. Difficult times are like dark clouds that pass overhead and momentarily block the sun.
Today, I am inspired to write a Lockdown Memoire and I hope it will inspire you to write yours. My focus have been on the Gains rather than Losses. In my lockdown memoire, I have filled it with 3 key elements – Growth, Happiness and Gratitude.
(1) GROWTH
“BELIEVE YOU CAN, YOU ARE HALF WAY THERE” – THEODORE ROOSEVELT
I love the above statement and I am inspired by the truth of it.
Every day is a new day, and every day is a new opportunity to learn more. With a growth mindset, be it personal or professional growth, it is important that we are seeing progress – bit by bit. Set a goal where you want to grow and make progress to reach it. There are always obstacles along the way but we learn to accept failures and, eventually, we will reach our destinations.
Like many speakers and trainers, I also have come out of my comfort zone to change in delivering my speaking engagement and trainings, from face-to-face to virtual. There were some discomfort moments in the beginning but I had to quickly adapt myself to the new way of working. I was happy to experience a small amount of anxiety as it motivated me to accomplish my goals. My conclusion and learning from virtual training – contents and participants’ take-away are most important elements.
It is part of my everyday activities to include some learnings into my agenda for the day.
(2) HAPPINESS
“HAPPINESS DEPENDS UPON OURSELVES” – ARISTOTLE
One good thing that comes out of the pandemic is that many people are realising what matters most to them - health, self-care and happiness. Being happy and sharing happiness are becoming important key elements to combat challenges during the pandemic.
As an advocate for Happiness at Work, I have always emphasized the importance of happiness and well-being at the workplace. Since we spend a lot of time at work, we want to go to work feeling happy, and feeling fulfilled going home. I feel lucky and privileged to be able to share my passion while helping others to be happy at work. Due to the change in environment, I have added “My 10 tips for happiness at work from home” into my training modules and am very glad that my clients were able to benefit from them.
Happiness is subjective and we cannot be happy all the time. Similarly, at work, there are good days and bad days, but we can leverage on the happiness advantage. It is proven that happy employees are more productive, creative, motivated and are better team players.
I feel really happy and inspired when my participants are making positive changes. One recent accomplishment came from a virtual training session for a client of mine. They had embedded happiness at work into their company’s culture. Happiness and Fun now is one of their core values and they are in the process of setting up a ‘Happy Committee’ to strategically plan for the team happiness at the workplace.
As more and more people are becoming aware of the benefits of applying Positive Psychology evidence-based theory, science, and methods to their daily life, happiness and gratitude are at the top of the list of the positive emotions self-check-list. My next focus is gratitude.
(3) GRATITUDE
“ACKNOWLEDGING THE GOOD THAT YOU ALREADY HAVE IN YOUR LIFE IS THE FOUNDATION FOR ALL ABUNDANCE.” – ECKHART TOLLE
There are many gratitude quotes and this is one of my favourites.
In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, improve their health, deal with adversity, relish good experiences and build strong relationships.
According to positive psychology theory, intentional activity accounts for 40% of our happiness, and can also better our well-being. There are multiple ways as to how we feel and express gratitude. One simple way is to say “Thank you”. I have a habit of writing a gratitude journal every day that has helped me to reflect and be thankful for what I have, rather than on what I don’t have. You can start yours too!
Finally, in my lockdown memoire, I would like to end with these two words “Optimism and Positivity”. It helps to be more optimistic and positive, especially during challenging times.
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