But I just have to say, things are weird right now. I don’t care where you live, what socioeconomic status you have, how many children you have, how old you are, we all feel something is weird, is off. And I’ve noticed it in coaching my clients and in our membership and with my friends where we’re trying to put a good face on it. I think everyone’s like, oh, I’m, I’m doing okay. We’re fine. You know, same old, same old. But we’re also looking around at the news and the world going, what is going on? And there are so many different versions of what is going on right now that it’s hard to know what is up and what is down. And this episode is not about any one of those things.

But I can’t think of a time where there were more giant looming things on the horizon because we’ve had the internet for a while, we’ve had social media for a while, but something is different about what’s happening, you know, at the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023. And so I think a lot of people are completely burnt out from Covid and have not recovered in the sense that this immense psychological thing happened to all of us. And then we all just kind of moved on without processing it or dealing with it, or naming it or making sense of it, right? It’s like, oh yeah, that thing that happened, you know, in 2020. And it doesn’t matter what your opinion is about it. My question to all of us is have we processed it or did we just shove that down? That crazy life-changing, we didn’t see it coming event that completely disrupted our lives for a long time. And then we just kind of moved on. I know a lot of people, their husbands are still working from home. Maybe school looks different. Our family life drastically changed and we haven’t unpacked that. And who would you unpack it with, right? Like it seems silly now to go, you know, to your mom’s group and be like, so that covid thing that happened that was crazy, right? , like, I have not had that conversation with anyone.

And then between international events and US economics and government things and technology, like, let’s just talk about those three big buckets. I think a lot of people are just waiting for the next bad thing to happen. I mean, why don’t you just really sit with that? Are you thriving? Are you creating a life on purpose? Or you know, did your heart get kind of crushed in 2020 and you’re scared to hope again? You’re scared to love again? And I was really thinking about some people I know who have had successes in their life in the last couple years, but I still think underlying those successes is just a little, like it could all be taken away or something unexpected could happen. I mean, before covid, it never occurred to me that something could come along and disrupt an entire industry or nation or world. And we all saw that that was possible. And so it doesn’t matter what thing may or may not happen in the future, but I think as a culture, as a society, we’ve lost a little bit of our oomph, a little bit of our sparkle, a little bit of our bravery and our willingness to try things and to stretch ourselves.

So I want you to think about where you’re at in your life. One, have you processed emotionally? What happened in Covid? One of the things that they say about kids who grow up in abusive households is that it’s really important that someone in their life gives them context and helps them make sense of the event. So if one parent is, let’s just say an alcoholic, and the other parent is like, oh, it’s fine, and they really minimize it or dismiss it or makes the kid feel crazy, that kid will have a much harder time as an adult than if the other parent who isn’t an alcoholic says, Hey, that behavior is not okay. And that parent may not be able to change the alcoholic’s behavior, but you can make sense of it to the child, Hey, that thing that just happened that was not okay, or it would make a lot of sense if you feel unsafe right now, or scared, right? So collectively, I think we should have some version of this. And I’m not sure in what form it could take, but I’m hoping this episode at least helps those of you who are listening to it, is to just say, Hey, that thing that happened in 2020 was scary. It was disruptive.

We didn’t predict it, and I don’t think we handled it well. I don’t think anybody thinks, oh, that was great. We handled it well, regardless of your personal opinions about the many, many facets of Covid, right? I don’t think anybody was like, that was a home run, and I’m not so sure that we learned something great or came together in the end that if something like that happened again, we all feel confident that we’re gonna handle it well. So it would make a lot of sense. If you’re just walking around in kind of a weird funk, in a weird hase, I just wanna tell you, that would make a lot of sense. Even three years later, no one made sense of that thing for you. I mean, some of you had babies at that time, right? Some of you had to go to all of your doctor’s appointments without your husband, and there was a lot of loss, many forms of loss. And there wasn’t a moment where we said, this is over. You know, oftentimes when there’s war, at least you know, World War I and World War II, there was a moment where they said, you know, we have declared that the war is over. You can stop holding on, right? There’s that feeling that we’re familiar with when we’re holding something so tightly and we’re so scared and our body’s tense, and then when the event is over, we kind of let that go. Well, we never really had that moment with Covid.

And so, you know, as a company, part of our job is to say, you know, what are moms dealing with right now? And what can we create for them that will help them draw closer to the Lord and have more peace? And I think for the last year and a half, everyone’s just kind of been saying the same things, like, let’s set our New Year’s goals. Do you wanna lose 15 pounds? Do you wish you were better at time management, including us, because we didn’t take the time, or no, to take the time to step back and go, I just kind of think everyone needs a hug. I think everyone needs a hug right now. And to hear, whoa, that thing that you went through, that was a lot. Do you wanna talk about it? What do you think about those years? How did that change your view as a parent? And what are we preparing our kids for? And so we wanted to have an episode and just like the post covid haze, that’s what I’m calling it. I wanna give you language for what you’re feeling right now. And it’s not everybody, but it’s a lot of people.

And I don’t think that the goal is necessarily to try to get back to our pre 2020 selves. So much has happened, but I think the goal should be who are we designing to be in the future? Who do we want to be, but within the context of what we’ve been through? Because if we just make plans like that thing didn’t happen, I think they feel weird or empty, or something’s just not quite right about them. But instead, if we acknowledge, wow, I just went through this incredibly traumatic event with millions of other people and most of us have not processed that, and we’re all kind of walking around in a haze, not sure what we’re doing with our lives, not really connecting as much as we did before, feeling a low level buzziness, like a lack of safety. Well, it would be really hard to then say, okay, I’m gonna go on a diet. I’m gonna learn how to play the piano.

And I think we would approach those things poorly or not with our best effort. And so here’s what I think the antidote is. I think the antidote is telling ourselves the truth of what happened, that it was a big deal, that it was traumatic to try to process that, you know, which for us as coaches means probably writing down a bunch of thoughts and feeling your feelings and trying to make sense of what happened. And, and that’s how I feel particularly about those. You know, the first two months after Covid is I have a lot of compassion for everybody in charge trying to make those decisions when we didn’t know what it was. Because that was an impossible job.

And so how can you make sense of what happened, your part in it, your choices, the choices of people around you, any loss that you experienced. And then to know that in a climate, in an unpredictable climate, it is still worth pursuing discipline. And in fact, pursuing discipline in uncertain climates is the best thing that we could do, right? And that’s Victor Frankl’s man Search for meaning, which is like, yeah, are you in a terrible situation right now? What can you control? How can you make sense of this? I think that’s also why so many people say, get up and make your bed in the morning. It matters. Of course, it doesn’t matter that your bed is made, but what does matter is that you have a moment of intentionally creating your life of saying, you know what, Sterling, I love you and I know it makes you happy when you walk back in this room and that bed is made, it brings a little bit of order to your life. So I’m gonna do that for you. There is a little bit of hope built into making the bed.

And so I think we’ve just let a lot of those things go in the post Covid haze, and I wanna invite you to bring them back because I don’t know what’s gonna happen in the economy or in foreign relations or with AI technology. I certainly know that God did not give me a spirit of fear, but it’s not just the fear. I think that’s keeping people from planning. I think it’s the uncertainty and just not being willing to put effort into something if you know it isn’t gonna pay off. But we never know if something is gonna pay off as the way that I think people are living in the post covid haze, not going for things, not growing, not choosing discipline is making their experience of life so much worse. And I know it sounds counterintuitive because when you’re kind of in a funk, right?

Going for a run never sounds good, taking a shower never sounds good. Cutting up vegetables so you haven’t prepared for the week, never sounds good. But if you start to tell yourself the truth and give context to how you’re feeling, it would sound a lot like this. Hey, Sterling, I know you’re feeling like you’re in a funk right now, but let me tell you what I think you should do. I think you should go for a 30 minute walk. I think you should take a shower, and I think you should cut up some vegetables because you love yourself, because you’re taking care of your future self because you have hope in the future. And having discipline now, growing in discipline, which I think in Catholic language is growing in virtue, is going to give you purpose. Let us honor the Lord with each day that we have, instead of phoning it in and kind of waiting for something big to change. Whether you think something good is gonna happen or something bad is gonna happen, I think there’s just this kind of collective waiting and we’re still getting things done while we’re waiting. I have six kids, I have to take care of them.

But are we dreaming? Are we planning? Are we hoping? Are we really giving life a shot? So I wanna encourage you to talk to your friends. I wanted to talk about this topic and I thought, you know, what should they do? And I think you should talk to your friends, one friend or a couple friends, and kind of unpack covid in the last three years. Or your spouse. I always say spouse, but this is for mom. So I really just mean your husband, husbands, don’t listen to this podcast and make sense of it. Tell yourself the truth. Process it. Don’t shine it up, right? Be that adult that the little kid inside of you needs to say, you know what? That was pretty horrible. What happened to you? I’m sorry.

And then from that, I want you to find some sparkle, some energy, some determination. And it doesn’t matter what you pick, but pick something where you want to actively grow in your life. Train for something, learn a new skill. Minimalize your house. Well, there’s so many things. You know what you need to do. Pray about it. If you aren’t sure, usually we know though, and just know that processing what happened and choosing to live forward from discipline and telling yourself the truth actually feels amazing. It doesn’t make your life harder. It makes your life feel easier. And then as you watch yourself pursue virtue and growth, you will spiral up. It will impact other areas of your life.

Now, of course, I always wanna say, if you wanna work on a bunch of stuff, come join us in Masters. That is the place where you can come work on some stuff. But if now is not the right time for you to do that, I still want you to talk to someone. I want you to process Covid, and I want you to just decide if you wanna come out of your post Covid haze and what do you wanna do? How are you gonna make sense of your day-to-day life right now? What small daily actions are you gonna do because you have hope in the future, because you love yourself, because you wanna honor God with the time that he’s given you.

I think those are some really beautiful questions to ask. I feel hopeful. I have no doubt that the world is going to significantly change this year, but I love the Lord. And so far, I’m extremely thankful that I was born in this time and not in the time of the Organ Trail. And I know that he gave me gifts that he wants me to use this time with these children in my community. And so I am looking for a purpose. I’m not waiting to live it out. I’m looking and going, why? Why did God want me to be alive right now with these kids in this community?

And I know that I’m saying that as a person who has a public podcast, but most of the people around me do not have a podcast. And so their purpose is something you know, more related to their domestic church and their parish life. But pick your head up and ask that question. What is God calling me to do right now? And how can I really commit? I know it’s scary to love again, but this waiting, this haze, it’s very unsatisfying. All right, ladies, I’m praying for you. The world offers you comfort, but remember, you were not made for comfort. You were Made for Greatness.