This was written by a radio friend of mine in Dallas, Rebecca Carrell, and used with her permission. I thought it was great insight and wisdom that we all could benefit from now.
- You will stop taking your job for granted.
Unless you lived through the Great Depression, you have never lived through an economic meltdown like the one we are living through. Gen Xers and Millennials (again, not all, but many) have been able to change jobs like we change clothes, and because of that, we have not understood the privilege it is to have a steady paycheck with good benefits. On the other side of this, we will likely be far more grateful for our jobs.
- We will have a deeper appreciation for face-to-face contact.
In a technology-driven world where a large portion of life happens online and on social media, we have taken real-life human contact for granted. This forced isolation will serve to deepen our appreciation for the flesh-and-blood friendships.
- We will be less inclined to waste.
Raise your hand if you’ve put a three-square limit on your toilet paper – am I right? The shock of combing through aisle after aisle of empty shelves at the grocery store reminds us how incredibly blessed we are to have food to choose from. On average, Americans waste 150-thousand TONS of food a day. That evens out to approximately a pound per person per day. Our grandparents who lived through the Great Depression understood this very well.
- You will be more resourceful.
I’ve loved watching social media posts about making bread, meals from scratch, making surgical masks, and all sorts of other kinds of do-it-yourself projects. Our grandparent’s parents had a fraction of what we have always had access to, and they not only survived but thrived.
- Your pain threshold will go up.
Once you’ve lived through a catastrophic event and you see that it wasn’t your undoing, things that might’ve been great problems at one time will pale in comparison. Why? Because once you’ve gone through it and lived to tell about it.
- You will have more appreciation for what you have.
Ask anyone who has survived a traumatic accident or a cancer diagnosis—when you stare your mortality in the face, the little things in life mean a great deal more. Walks outside, the birds singing in the trees, the sounds of children playing outside—all the little signs of life we take for granted—we suddenly see as precious and irreplaceable.
Photo credit: Getty Images/mheim3011
