Martine St-Victor: Pandemic-Inspired Resolutions Give Way to Old Habits

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The first lockdown in March 2020 forced me, and millions of others, to get off the hamster wheel. Unstable at first, the slower pace grew on me. A few months later, I had promised myself that the new rhythm would become permanent. It’s not that I worked less, but that I approached things differently.

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Like New Year’s resolutions, this and other enthusiastic promises were intended to make life better. My hikes three times a week at Mount Royal became daily and I limited the number of meetings in front of the camera to five hours a week. If you booked work time with me after reaching my self-imposed limit, we would have to resort to a novelty called a telephone. Setting limits felt great, and she had sworn to make the feeling last. How naive.

When the public health restrictions began to be lifted, we resumed old habits and the certain zen of confinement was replaced by the thrill of knowing that we could return to some of the things and people we had missed.

Precautionary measures announced this week signaled a possible return to limited activities. As I listened to the latest recommendations from Health Minister Christian Dubé, I remembered a phrase he wrote in a Facebook post in early September: “As we learn to live with the virus,” one of the paragraphs of the post began. In that moment, the words felt like a punch as I realized that a return to a certain normalcy would be momentary. And today, here we are again, backing up things like seeing colleagues, meeting in larger groups, and planning trips. All of that is now on hiatus. Again.

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At the height of the pandemic early last year, I was reminded that there was little I could control. For someone with a personality not so south of Type A, it was no small feat. But it brought me some relief: I had no choice but to get carried away. So I made up my mind to no longer cling to Plan A when it’s clear it won’t work, and to be ready to move quickly to Plan B or Plan C. Almost two years later, how much of that mindset? Is it left? Well, I’m not about to change my planned trip for January when, in fact, maybe I should.

What remains for me today is to realize how quickly I had returned to my old habits. And now, a rampant variant is confronting me with the reality that my new perceived sagacity triggered by the pandemic has worn off. But timing is important, and the fact that these renewed recommended public health measures are being rolled out on the eve of some holidays is a good thing. This is one of my new resolutions: to use my year-end downtime to check the rhythm of the hamster wheel. It won’t be easy, because I love working. What do you do when you love what you do? You do more!

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Still, this is my last column of 2021. And as I figure out how to improve my balancing act, allow me a reflection of the most intimate kind. End-of-the-year personal reviews shouldn’t just be about individual accomplishments. I think it should also be time to take stock of what we are grateful for. Much gratitude to you, dear readers. This weekly column is not mine. It is ours. You have made me better and forced me to look at things with sharper eyes. You have taught me to listen with different ears. It has allowed me to present different perspectives, even when you disagree with them. That is a privilege and it is precious. I am grateful for it.

Until we meet again in January, I wish you all a happy and healthy Christmas season.

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Martine St-Victor is the CEO of Edelman Montreal and a media commentator. Instagram Y Twitter: martinemontreal

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