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Redefining Your Purpose in The Wake of The Pandemic
Redefining Your Purpose in The Wake of The Pandemic
Redefining
Wake of theYour Purpose
Pandemic in the
by John Coleman
March 10, 2022
Summary. For many of us, the pandemic changed our purpose. It’s time to
embrace this period of transition and reimagine both your personal life and your
work.... more
What happened to you these last two years? Did you lose a job, or
quit one? Did you relocate, opting to work remotely from a new
place or to be closer to family? Did you see what life would be like
spending more time (or less) with friends and family? Did you get
seriously ill or lose a loved one?
There are sources of meaning at your very core that will never
change and that help to define who you are. Identifying those,
leaning into them, and learning to build around them is the
foundation upon which you build a fruitful life transition.
Sometimes these are professional — a deep and abiding calling to
be a physician, for example, or to work with children. Other times,
those core identities (e.g., father) may impact the way in which we
structure how we want to work (e.g., more flex time at home).
Reject stagnation.
Your pre-pandemic life is gone, and it’s unlikely your pandemic
era habits can persist unchanged. If you’ve been quietly confined
for much of this period, you’re now (or soon will be) reentering the
world, whether that means visiting restaurants or the office. If
you’ve worked remotely for two years, chances are you’re going to
shift habits again and find a balance between virtual and physical
community. If you’ve been clinging to a job that makes you feel
stuck, now’s the time to reinvent it or move on.
What areas of your life were stagnant two years ago, particularly
in your work? What pandemic habits have you fallen into that you
need to pull yourself out of? Don’t go back to who you were in
2019, but also don’t hold too tightly to who you were in
quarantine.
Embrace others.
The best part of us all experiencing this shift in life and purpose
together is that none of us are alone. As you navigate one of the
most important transitions in your life, you’re surrounded by
scores of people experiencing the exact same change.
Reach out to them. Offer your support in their journey and seek
their advice on yours. There’s never been a better time for a peer
mentoring group, a book club, or a job transition group (even
virtually). That empathy you feel for everyone else’s transition?
They feel it for you, too.
Any major inflection point in life can feel terrifying. Finding new
sources of meaning is hard. And like many life transitions, the
pandemic was not a welcome or pleasant one. The biggest
question we all face now is what’s next — and how can we
embrace purpose in our post-pandemic future.
JC
John Coleman is the author of the HBR Guide
to Crafting Your Purpose. Subscribe to his free
newsletter, On Purpose, follow him on Twitter
@johnwcoleman, or contact him at
johnwilliamcoleman.com.