Do you know that adage about the frog in a pot of boiling water — 
the frog doesn’t notice as the temperature slowly rises until he’s eventually boiling?

If you’ve been too busy just staying afloat to reflect on how your life has changed during the pandemic, maybe it’s time to take the temperature of your water.

What’s better? What’s worse?

This year has brought tremendous challenges, from illness and death to income loss, to renewed focus on racial injustices.

But not everything is terrible. Maybe you’ve enjoyed having more time with your family. Maybe you’re getting more sleep or exercise. Or maybe you’re feeling hope as you see attention given to racism in America.

I invite you to take a few minutes to pause and reflect: What’s changed for you since the start of this year?

First, it’s important to focus just on what you are experiencing.
Certainly someone has it worse, and someone has it better.
Whatever you’re feeling about your life in 2020, you have the right to feel that.

You might find it useful to look over your calendar or photos to refresh your memory, as you compare life today with life before the virus.

Reflecting on your life since the beginning of the pandemic, what is:

• One thing I expected to miss but do not
• One thing I am surprised to find myself missing
• One thing I have started to do that I like
• One thing I have stopped doing that I don’t want to resume
• One thing I thought I would do but haven’t
• One thing I am eager to do the moment it’s allowed again
• One thing that has helped me cope

None of these needs to be THE perfect thing. It could be one thing of many.

“People don’t learn from experiences, they learn from the reflection on their experiences.”

That quote from life and career coach Rosie Guagliardo is one of the many insights that stuck with me after I wrote a series of stories about self reflection a few years ago.

“Self-reflection is a positive space. It is an imperceptible forward movement,” said Amanda Enayati, who writes and consults on lowering stress. Enayati notes that our culture prizes constant motion and activity, so opting out requires discipline. “In order to move forward, you have to be in a space where it looks like nothing is happening.

Although you might feel you have too much on your to-do list to sit for a while and reflect on your pandemic life, it can be an essential tool for understanding this unprecedented experience.