What now? Re-imagining your life
A resource to help deal with drastic change and loss.
Hearing about the idea of gratitude isn’t new in my life. But, my understanding and appreciation of gratitude has grown in recent years.
In recent years, I’ve explored expressing gratitude through a gratitude journal. For the first few months, in the gratitude journal I included writing three tangible or intangible things in my life before bed each night for which I am thankful for. Then, the gratitude journal transitioned to writing one person I am thankful for in my life before bed each night. The goal was to not have overlap for what I was writing each night.
Now, in recent months, I try to take this, what I think of as inward gratitude, to outward gratitude — expressing my gratitude by trying to help others. Doing something positive and constructive about my gratitude if you will. So far, I have followed this outward gratitude in different areas of my life, and albeit at different magnitudes as well — from holding the door open for someone, to sharing knowledge with others, to fulfilling a role during weddings, and to lending an extra hand with home renovations, as examples. Surely in alignment with the phrase: “one I learn, I teach; when I get, I give.”
The outward gratitude of my understanding and appreciation for what I am thankful for was the driving fuel to work with a remarkable group of individuals, led by Mary Ann Baynton, to create What now? — Re-imagining your life. This resource is designed to help those who are dealing with change and loss during the complex time in which COVID-19 has spawned. By engaging with the resource, the purpose is for users to feel grounded again and move forward with hope, clarity and energy.
What now? is organized into a plethora of modules within the Activities tab. Each module, and the respective content, is in regards to a specific topic, such as “What I need today”, “Managing my thoughts”, and “Increasing my energy”.
A user can walk away from engaging with What now? and have gone through actions such as:
- uncovering details about your personality and tendencies
- learning to question your thoughts
- developing a script in terms of asking for support
- crafting responses for questions regarding self-awareness
- creating a word cloud for your ideal life
- finding practical job search strategies
- establishing a baseline for tracking your growth
- realizing myths about emotions really do exist
Users can pick and choose which modules to complete within the resource. As the resource mentions, what counts is that a user is here [trying the modules] now and ready to begin feeling better and moving forward, whatever that might look like for you now. Completing one or two modules may be all that is necessary, and that is okay!
In fact, on the welcome page, What now? includes in writing the following:
- feel whatever you feel
- choose whatever you want to change
- move forward whenever you are ready
Throughout the resource, reference is made to help being available. What now? itself is for self-reflection only. If someone needs treatment or clinical support, then they are to contact their medical professional.
All in all, we created What now? to help others discover how to identify and address challenging feelings and emotions. In doing so, to process reactions to unexpected life changes in order to feel less stuck and move forward with clarity and energy. Overhauling oneself with this resource is not the goal. Rather, it’s about building tiny habits and reframing thoughts.
Just because you are down, doesn’t mean you are out. Pausing does not mean stopping.
My personal commitment certificate, an aspect of the “Re-committing to my life” module within What now?, is shown below.
Please share with others as mentioned, we made this for them.
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Nathan Kolar
