GETTING BACK ON TRACK, AGAIN

As some of you who connect with me and follow me know, I was thrown off track on December 31, 2021, with an uninvited intruder, the Omicron Variant of the Covid 19 Pandemic.   I made a trip to our local ER where the good folks working New Year’s Eve gave me some tests, several medications and sent me home where I went to bed for the best part of three days and nights.  Symptoms, besides a fever and aches, were extreme fatigue, no energy or appetite, and no interest in much of anything.  Very unlike me and it has taken what seems like a long time to get back on track.

The good parts were no stay in the hospital; someone very close to me who is the best caretaker and caregiver in the world; concern and support from family and friends for which I am most grateful; and understanding that the “dis-ease” affects different people differently.  Since I no longer have a demanding job or work schedule, I had the time to recuperate, not expecting that it would take three weeks before I started feeling more like my old, familiar self again, one that I enjoy for a whole variety of reasons, too many to list here.

Like many of you, I am more comfortable with change that I can either design or manage and not change that seems like a rude interruption and serious inconvenience.  However, we are called on occasionally to deal with the latter as well as the former and having done that previously, we can access some of those resources to help get back on track with a better sense of balance and direction.   Mine came from what I had written several years ago and revised periodically along the way.   It was from one of my several blogs on getting back on track, so what I did was to listen to myself from what I have written previously that follows:

It may be that we need to step back and “recalibrate,” a term I learned from an Intel employee who often used the term when she meant that we needed to have another look and see if our assessments were accurate and on track. Her experience from another industry helped us on numerous occasions to take another, different approach. It fits the “on track” metaphor because trains run on tracks that are definitely calibrated and recalibrated frequently. In the U.S. most tracks are exactly 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in or 1,435 mm. When I worked on the railroad, we spent a lot of time lining tracks and making sure they were the exact, correct width. Now machines do that job.

So, what can we do to get back on track besides realigning the road ahead?

• Take time and don’t even try to rush it. Step back and evaluate your choices
• .Make sure you’re doing what you can for yourself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, meeting those needs for good health.·
• Talk to someone who might understand and appreciate your challenges and perceived obstacles.
• Start with building a simple step-by-step plan and adjust it as needed. Take baby steps. It’s the way to move forward.
• Engage and connect. We are social beings and isolation sometimes delays getting back on track. However, there is also value in spending some time alone gathering your resources.
• Rediscover a new purpose or explore something entirely different. Consider giving some time as a volunteer.
• Realize that each day is a gift and what you make of it is up to you.
• Check in on your “attitude of gratitude” and how you might appreciate what you have in a different way.
• Read, listen, watch and pay attention. There are clues out there.
• Be KIND to yourself.

There is no magic formula or recipe that works for everyone. Each person has his or her own unique personality and figuring out what is going to work best for you is a process, not flip the switch and instantly be on a different track.  Part of my process was to disconnect from the usual, everyday activities and spend three days in a totally different environment, one that I find to be nourishing and healing.  Living in the desert, I went to the ocean and returned on a new track.