Lean Into Your Physical Distancing

It’s clear. Physical distancing is the new way of life. For now. Let’s accept it and lean into it. Let’s not pretend it’ll be easy, or in any way natural. This is not the way we and our society around us have evolved to get along. But it’s possible to cope if you set your mind to it.

Here's one way to look at it, through the lens of the endurance athlete that you are.

I have an acronym I use for my coaching system that’s grown into my coaching business. It’s EPIC, of course! Evaluate and Envision; Planning; Implementation; Communication.

And in these uncertain times, I’ve come up with another way to define EPIC. You might want to lean on it to get through these days of living inside very small social circles.

Endure • Positive • Imagine • Connect


Endure

You are an endurance athlete. Above all, you know how to persevere to the end. Sometimes you’re in the race. Other times you’re off the back. You might get a flat. Or you crush that climb! You always find a way to keep on riding with what you’ve got right now. A DNF is not for you!


Positive

You must nurture a positive mindset to create hope for a better tomorrow. You need to take charge of your tendency to see the negative. That’s the easy way out, because evolution favoured those who looked for the tiger in the trees. The fact that you train almost daily is a testament to your positive hope of becoming better over time.

Let me personalize this outlook further. Some of you have 360° of stress right now. Threats surround your personal and professional livelihoods.

You may have heard me say – in referencing race-day jitters – replace your expectations with appreciations. In these tough times take charge! Actively look for anything positive to appreciate. Acknowledge at least one positive thing each morning when you wake up. I listen for my furnace and appreciate I have natural gas and electricity.


Imagine

Albert Einstein said, “Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.” You have a choice to stay positive, to imagine the adventures in the next chapters of your life. Choose happily!

Is there a big event to put on your calendar later this year? Perhaps you can create your own Big Ride. Each day take time to re-imagine all you want out of life. This season, this year, this decade.


Connect

In these life-saving times of isolation and physical distancing, accept and expect that you’ll need to connect with friends and family. Sure, at times in life you seek solitude … to connect with your inner self and perhaps your natural environment. But this is also a time we need to talk with each other to make real this epic time we’re all living through.

Connect to hold onto the power of community. The experiences we are all going through are hard to define. Talking through it with friends and family will help create your own perspective tempered by the real (not Tweeted) views of meaningful people in your life.

Appreciate all the technology you’ve got that makes this possible! Ubiquitous internet with many video calling platforms, besides the simple telephone call. Could you imagine how isolated this would feel with tech from 15 years ago? And consider what the poor polio patients in the 1950s or 1918 influenza victims had to help them cope. Yes, our tech is more to appreciate each day!

Through the next months (and we are talking about months), endure with a positive imagination and connect with whom you care about most in life. Our present circumstances are only temporary.

Use the EPIC framework to help write this chapter of your epic journey through life. You will get through this!

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