COVID-19 Era: Adapt And Grow. Pruned Back, New Chapter

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” Leonardo da Vinci

Learn. Read. Rest for renewal. Seek, find. The pandemic continues, so does business, which must find solutions.

Goodbye 2021 as a pandemic continues. Hello 2022, here's to business and life, adapt, overcome, grow. Life lived in chapters unfurls.

As the year draws to a close and a new chapter opens, so here is a sharing of near and far. It's been a challenging road this year; people–family, friends, colleagues, business owners, those who answer the phone with kindness–have made the difference. Thanks to all. What a privilege to serve and be here. Pruned back hard–looking to the natural world to see what is possible after winter. Cultivating community, gathering information. Quiet energy.

“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” Michelangelo


Dinosaur tracks in stone. Portland, Connecticut. Photo by Chris Brunson.

Tracks in time.

“Admire the world for never ending on you as you would admire an opponent, without taking your eyes off him, or walking away. …Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes. After Michelangelo died, someone found in his studio a piece of paper on which he had written a note to his apprentice, in the handwriting of his old age: ‘Draw, Antonio, draw, Antonio, draw and do not waste time.'”

–Annie Dillard


Editor's note: Working on a new year's line-up of coverage, telling stories, in business and indigenous history. More resources, day trips, family outings, with (yes) geology, what many others miss. Good news ahead. Vaccinated, boosted, wear a mask, double mask; keep washing your hands and keeping the six-feet distance. Test, isolate. Be patient; set a good example, and respect those who are immune compromised, fighting unseen health battles of their own.