COVID-19 has taken many lives and is one of the largest international tragedies in many of our lifetimes. Many people have died, leaving devastated families behind them. However, times of tragedy can also help us grow and come back stronger. This pandemic has forced us to recognise our ‘key workers’ and celebrate ‘local heroes’. I say forced because I don’t believe the majority of us praised or celebrated this group the way we are now before the virus struck. If you did, I apologise.

Amongst this group are:

·       Health and care workers including frontline staff, volunteers and those who from part of the supply chain

·       Education and childcare including teachers, support staff, and social workers

·       Key public services including justice, religion, charities, delivering frontline services undertakers, journalists and broadcasters

·       Local and national government staff responsible for the COVID-19 response or for essential public services

·       Food and essential goods like medicines including production, distribution and sales

·       Public safety and national security including the armed forces, police, fire, prison and border security

·       Transport staff who keep the road, rail, air and water services going

·       Utilities such as oil, gas, electric, water and waste disposal

·       Communication services such as broadband, telecommunications and the postal service including field workers, call centres and data infrastructure

·       Essential financial services such as banks, building societies and financial infrastructure

In the UK, at least, it is the frontline health workers who have taken the ‘lion’s share’ of praise from the public. Whilst I have supported, donated to, and applauded them myself, it is, I believe, another demonstration of how we seem to get fixated’ on one group. If you like, the frontline health staff have become our ‘celebrities’ of the moment. And yet, what you realise, when you review the full list, is that we all need each other. We are all interdependent. Let me take this moment to praise all of the other people on this list, not only in the UK but across the world. Thank you.

There are also many omissions from this group. No musicians, footballers, artists, writers, CEOs, entrepreneurs, influencers, famous people, people on the rich list. Quite often, these are the people we become ‘fixated’ with. We see these people as successful and reserve our praise and adoration for them. Of course we need these people too. That’s the point. We all need each other. We need people to help us think, feel, act, connect, grow, love, build, tell us stories and enrich our lives.

But perhaps now is the time to re-evaluate our perception of the worth of one group over and above another. Perhaps it is time things got fairer. As we move through the stages of COVID-19 the common rhetoric I hear is “things should never go back to normal” or “what will be the new normal?” I put it to you that the new normal should be a focus on wellbeing as success, and not a return to the fixation with wealth, celebrity, fame, and influence. COVID-19 is also challenging many of our habits and beliefs. I’ve talked to many neighbours and friends who are enjoying homeworking, the extra time they have with close family, the slower pace of life and getting back to nature. I’ve seen more people on ‘my heathland’ walking than ever. Don’t they know that this is my nature reserve?

Joking aside, I believe what we are finding during COVID-19 is the importance of wellbeing. Whether it be mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, social, cultural, environmental or economic, all conversations I’ve heard can be categorised into one of these domains. So going forward my answer to the question “What is the new normal?” is quite simple. The new normal is a focus on wellbeing.

·       Reducing the number of burnt out stressed people in the workplace.

·       Being more creative

·       Ensuring people have nutritious healthy diets

·       Improving fitness levels

·       Helping people to understand and be themselves

·       Ensuring people can be connected

·       Recognising that we all have rights as well as responsibilities

·       Recognising our reliance on each other and the planet

·       Recognising that work is a means to an end not the end itself.

·       Being more flexible to ensure works fits in with life

·       Continuous learning throughout life

As individuals we are all doing our best in the context of our own personal beliefs, values, culture and systems that surround us. The problem is we need to change. If collectively we keep doing what we are doing, then in essence, we are sleep-walking over the edge of a cli! with our children, grandchildren, and near ancestors tied to us.

So my call is for us all to up our game. What more can we do? This book has provided the framework and practical tools to help us change. By identifying where we are doing well and where we could do better, we should now know how to improve both personal and collective wellbeing. The question is where will we now lead ourselves and others?

Of course individuals cannot change everything themselves. One of the key areas to start this change is through our education. We need our educational establishments to develop citizens who think, feel and act in improved ways so that we can all thrive going forward.