My mother posed a question to me yesterday—one that I have also been mulling about in my own head:

“I wonder what we will do differently when this is all over?  What will we keep on doing?  What will we just stop doing?”

Will I want to go back to my fast-forward pace of life?  Or will I miss this ability to watch tv shows I’ve only heard about?

Will I think it still OK to be out in meetings several nights a week?  Or will I miss the family suppers that sometimes were shoved to the side?

Will I accept the level of stress I lived in before (now that I can recognize it)?  Or will I say no to some work opportunities?

There are so many (many!) things that are just not good out of the upheaval the world has gone through.  The economic turmoil.  The uncertainty about people’s jobs.  The inability to travel to visit family and friends.  The lack of in-person school for our children.  The hole we feel when we don’t socialize like we used to. 

If—and I know it’s a big if—IF we can make it through economically, though, the pause in our normal lives can be a good thing. It gives us a chance to think for a bit, to hit reboot, to look at things with a new set of eyes. 

I wonder if, at some point next year, at least some of us will look at this whole year—as strange as it is–as a silver lining?