It’s been 40 days (and 40 nights), and while I’m looking in the same mirror every morning, I’m beginning to wonder who’s looking back.

For example, I just spent $92 on a bird feeder, stand, and bird food. Not any bird food, mind you, but food specially formulated for song birds. I did it for my newest friend, Bea Arthur, a robust robin who graces my front yard every day. And yes, I named her after my favorite Golden Girl.

I know what you’re thinking. She bought a bird feeder, so what? That’s perfectly normal. But, I can promise you: THIS IS NOT ME. A) I don’t garden and B) I have never given much thought to the neighborhood’s bird population. It’s not that I don’t like birds — well, except for a particularly nasty woodpecker who made mincemeat of one of my trees — it’s just that between working and parenting and working out, I never had time for them. In truth, I didn’t even *see* them.

Until now.

If there is one thing this pandemic has forced me to do, it’s to open my eyes, take notice and enjoy those things that are right in front of me. Like Bea. It seems that at a time when the world is grappling with COVID-19, the small things become so vastly important. It recently snowed (yes, I said snow), but once the storm moved out, we were left with a magnificent sunset. My daughter and I captured it in a photo, but we also just stood and watched, enjoying the show.

In a recent piece in HR Dive, Jez Rose, a man of many talents, including entertainer, beekeeper, author, and host, talked about the benefits of nature in the workplace. He suggested that interactions with nature — even minimal ones — can increase joy and happiness by a significant amount. Now that the line between workplace and home has dissolved, at least for the time being, I’m noticing some pretty amazing things that were right there all along.

Could this be one of the potential silver linings in all of this? We know the pandemic will irrevocably change our way of life — how we work, go to school, travel, and more. But could it have an even more fundamental impact on us as individuals? Will we shift our priorities, not just in the short-term, but long past the time we re-emerge as a society?

I hope so. Andrew Winston, a sustainability expert (and Perspectives 2020 speaker) reminds us that we are all connected and this polarized thinking of the recent past, “every person for him/herself” must give way in favor of thinking more about the collective.

For me, I am starting to take greater pleasure in the simpler things. And while I’m eager to emerge from the isolation, I also recognize that there is value in focusing on what’s right in front of you. Like Bea Arthur.