Page 16 - Delaware Lawyer - Fall 2020

FEATURE
Doug MacGray
A Time to Ponder
Life under COVID is a chance to reconnect with what we still have
It is easy to dwell on the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally, nationally, locally and personally, it has brought suffering and angst, frustration and anger. Despite all of this, or maybe because of it, I am grateful. It generally takes less than a couple of seconds of wallowing in anything negative for me to snap myself back into reality, and that reality is that I have so much for which to be thankful.
14 DELAWARE LAWYER FALL 2020
This pandemic has brought about forced introspection time. I gener- ally spend hours every day behind the wheel of a car listening to podcasts, music, news and books. I usually get up knowing what my full and busy day looks like and get moving from appointment to appointment, meeting to meeting. I quite like the pace, but something has been missing: pause. I never pause. Unless I set aside specific time to do so, I never let my mind go, to ruminate, engage in introspection, meditate, and ponder things great and small.
We live in the wealthiest nation in the richest time in the history of the world, and yet we live in a culture that is full of stress and anxiety. I switched careers from the active practice of law over 20 years ago to the financial plan- ning and investment advisory world, and I see the irony every day of people with significant wealth and personal misery. I hate seeing that misery. And I think I have begun to find the antidote. Regularly, not occasionally, we need to slow down, turn off all media, and ponder.
For drawing me back to a practice of