Welcome! Today I want to ask you about how well you’ve been embracing the NOW. There are two specific things that I’m going to offer to you that could really help you thrive in this period of uncertainty.We can tend to lock into the way our habits and routines are. Then, when life makes a transition, we fail to make a transition in our habits. Instead, we “white knuckle it” through that transition. If we feel something will be short-term, we don’t really let ourselves adapt, we kind of just wait around until things come back to normal. I’ve definitely done that myself at times, and had a tendency to be impatient for “getting back to normal.” We can experience a desire to just get to the other side of a transition or get through an uncertain period. But what I want to remind you of today, is that this approach won’t help us thrive. Anytime we are just waiting for something, we’re really keeping ourselves from fully thriving.So, I ask you to reflect and ask yourself – How have I been embracing the now? How have I adjusted my life to thrive as best as I can? Am I trying to do the same things in this stay-at-home situation as I was before? Or have I taken the time to step back for a moment and ask what does my ideal life structure look like within this environment? Right now, life is different. And the same things that worked before aren’t going to work right now.I had a conversation with my wife about this. I’m working from home right now during the day and she’s caring for our 3.5 year old son. We talked about how we don’t need to pretend things haven’t changed. We don’t need to pretend that I’m at work and we’re not together, because that’s not what’s happening. What IS happening is that we’re all home! Yes, I’m getting my engineering work done during the day and they’re playing, but we’re still home together and we can have a different flow of the day. We can have lunch together; I can take a 15-minute play break so she can go get a break or a shower. I can adjust my day’s structure to the situation in a way that can help me thrive.So if you haven’t already, I encourage you to jot down notes or journal about this question: What does my ideal day look like under these circumstances we’re in?There’s no need to pretend things are the same way, when they’re not. You might be able to adjust your life in a way that maybe you always wished you could! I love being able to have lunch with my family and then go back to working. I can do that right now. So, what are ways you can adjust your day to be fully embracing how you are, not pretending things are the way they were? That’s my first suggestion to you – think that through.The second thing I want to suggest is that you consider ways to really make this time more novel, to bring more novelty into your day. Bring in something funny, something that breaks up the day and adds a newness to it – like having a Zoom call with family and friends. At my house, we’ve enjoyed taking slow motion videos of things and checking them out. It’s super fun for all of us! It’s just fun and it breaks up the day with newness. We’re not really getting that as much as we used to! We’re not out and about, we’re not hearing other people’s stories, so we need to find ways to bring that newness and fun into our lives.So those are my thoughts for you today. Embracing the now – adjusting your life to what’s happening now so that you can be fully thriving, and not waiting for things to “get back to normal.” And how can you add novelty, some fun, to your day? I welcome any ideas you want to share – reach out to me or comment!