Discover insights to achieve livable success—knowing that it takes 30 days to change a habit and 90 days to start a new one and that it's OK to grieve the familiar.

Photo by Lelia Milaya

This year, who hasn’t been touched by uncertainty? As I contemplate the last few months, inside the solitude of my apartment, it becomes evident to me that the one thing you can be certain of is that life is uncertain. 

How could we, in our old complacency, have forgotten that? Any given day, things just happen, and, somedays, some of these unplanned things are huge. That was the case on March 13 when I was forced to pick up my daughter from college in the second semester of her Senior year and bring her home to a desolate New York City. Everything we planned for that happy time in her young life came to an end that day. And I felt indescribable pain. 

Thus began the pandemic for me—and a new way of life. 

Each day in this new life, I’ve had to figure out how to navigate the long empty hours and shape that time into a productive and effective manner. It is not easy, but it is doable after realizing that I had to give up “the way I was used to living” and create a way to live in the present circumstances. 

And you can do the same. But crafting that new lifestyle requires, first, being honest with yourself and accepting that you must give up old habits to acquire new ones. 

To be real: I have had a hard time. Adjusting to these unexpected changes has not been easy, especially since we know that a return to what we had called “normal” before last Spring, will take some time. But, drawing on ideas and sensitivities developed during my 20 years of training helps me get through this and structure a new plan for myself and others with insight. 

I’d like to share insights so you can take positive steps to achieve livable success, knowing that it takes 30 days to change a habit and 90 days to start a new one and that it’s OK to grieve the familiar.
  1. Accept what is present
  2. Develop mechanisms (strategies, tactics, tools) to avoid resistance
  3. Structure your days with new habits and new ways of doing things
  4. Organize your surroundings
  5. Learn to enjoy cooking
  6. Brush up on your reading
  7. Learn new digital platforms
  8. Foster a dog or cat
  9. Call friends and family
  10. Call a coach

Think on how you see yourself in a year and live the present toward the future and be happy in your new reality. Living is a choice. Choose wisely.

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