Upgrade Your Mindset

Sometimes New is appealing: “A clean slate!” “A blank canvas!” “Reinvent!” Sometimes it’s not: “Back to square one,” “Demoted,” “Into the unknown” (nod to you Frozen 2!).  Similarly, sometimes Old is the attractive one: “Seasoned vet!” “Being older is being experienced,” “I know this like the back of my hand.” And sometimes it’s not: “That’s a tired way of doing things,” “Outdated,” “This app requires a software upgrade.” Why does it have to be one or the other? I’m here to tell you it doesn’t.

We’ve entered this interesting world where the word “Hybrid” means more than eco-friendly cars. We’re being given the opportunity to piece together what we liked about life pre-Covid and life during quarantine to assemble two different lives into one. Yes, it may emulate a series of random and seemingly misfit components, but that’s also what mosaics are- ever seen Park Guell?- if not, here you go! With the risk of sounding corny, this work of art we can create, given thought and intention, can be something pretty spectacular.

The world around us is constantly innovating. Apple comes out with a new version of iPhone that resembles the last, with slight modifications to create something that’s faster, holds more memory, and has enhanced picture quality. Other than these enticing new features, we also appreciate the familiarity from the last model (this goes for android products, too!). The company isn’t reinventing the wheel every time. However, we’re lining up out the door to snag this new device with a disguise that closely resembles its ancestor. 

This merging of the old and the new can be as sweet as a morning coffee blend. We can pull from what we’ve enjoyed at home and habits we’ve created and combine them with getting together with others and working in the office. We don’t have to ditch everything we’ve built up and developed over the last year plus and we don’t have to return to everything we used to do prior to March 2020.

In family therapy we learn about the term morphogenesis. In science, this has to do with cell development. In therapy, it’s when a family, in response to a stimulus (i.e. divorce or death of a family member), deviates so far from the status quo (homeostasis) that it breaches its threshold and changes. When this happens, typically, there are parts of the “old” that form with the “new.” We can approach any new endeavor with this in mind by using our past experiences in order to evolve. It’s not one or the other, it’s both/AND.

Stay Well,
Catherine at Revive