It is an ordinary Tuesday in the new ordinary. I taking my usual morning coffee break a little later than normal today. I was working on something that I wanted to finish and time got away from me.
After a huge rally last week and yesterday the market is down. I am way down. Doh! California and New York have started reopening this week. They are the last of the 50 states to begin the reopening process. News about the virus is falling off, over shadowed by the protests and riots, sparked by the death of George Floyd. Did the virus just go away? Was the virus largely media hype? Will there actually be a second wave of the virus?
Uncertainty. The only word to collectively describe our lives today.
My strategy in the uncertainty is to focus my energy on the areas of my life that will matter, regardless of what happens next. Those areas of life are my boys, my family, my friends and my career.
One could argue that my job could be gone tomorrow; I understand that, and I believe that is true for everyone, no matter what their profession. However, there is a different between a job and a career. I have a job I love that builds my career everyday. The more that I put into my job, the more that I get out of my job. My plan is to work for the company that I work at for another 7 years until I enter my first phase of my retirement plan. That said if I do lose my job, I still have all of the skills and amazing contacts that I have made, and I will be able to make something out of that.
It is a no-brainer to focus on family and friends, but it is also far too easy to fall into the habit of isolation. I am inevitably exhausted at the end of the work day on Friday, but I still go to see my friends. I am getting into the habit of keeping in touch with people even if I cannot see them, and I am getting in the habit of making plans with my friends. On the family front, I am looking forward to going to see my sister in a couple of weeks, and I hope to see my aunt and both of my cousins this summer. My family is really small, but they are amazing people.
Most of my focus and energy is on the boys. Little Chirp is at a fun age. He can do just about anything, yet he still enjoys hanging out with Mom and big brother. Brainy Bird is entering a big chapter of his life as he starts his senior year in the fall, and he will begin his college application process. The uncertainty of life seeps into the college application process.
We have decided that we will proceed as planned and the chips will fall where they may. This means that he will be sending his application to the less selective schools on his list on August 1, and that he will send his second round of applications to the selective schools on his list as soon as he has the results of his August SAT.
I get chills just thinking about it. He is prepared and he has a strong application in the making. I think the two hardest steps will be making a final decision on where to go, and how to pay for college. We will cross those bridges as we get to them.
Uncertainty, that is everyone’s life today. We will plan our destination; we will take things one day at a time; we will be prepared for changes along the way. We will navigate through the uncertainty; we will not be controlled by it.