I was honored to be asked to contribute to this column and I hope everyone is coping well as we enter the third month of major shutdowns and radical lifestyle changes. To start, I wanted to share my favorite adage by author and meditation teacher Tara Brach: “How you live your life today is how you live your life.” In the world’s current state, I’ll admit that sometimes my next thought is:  Are you kidding me? For real? Staying home and barely seeing anyone in person, other than my cat? This is my life?

Still, I find this proverb to be even more salient right now. Both personally and professionally, I have focused on being grateful for what I have, connecting with family and friends, and continuing to work towards the goals I had before the pandemic, recognizing some goals may just require a different approach.

Keeping a schedule has kept me sane, as has lots of music and exercise. I decided early on that if I was stuck at home, I might as well be eating well, and have tried new recipes from various cooking blogs. (I highly recommend Smitten Kitchen’s carrot cake.) I’ve gotten to reconnect with a lot of friends via video calls, including a weekly call with some college friends spread across three countries and five time zones. I live in a condo in Downtown Silver Spring, which I think has the best of urban and suburban living—close neighbors for socially distant walks and courtyard happy hours and easy access to parks and good bike routes.

For urban planners, living our lives today means endlessly thinking about tomorrow. While public attention is understandably more focused on short-term concerns, long-term thinking remains crucial to a successful recovery. One of my major projects at Montgomery Planning right now is an update to the General Plan, the foundational policy guiding land use in the county which was last comprehensively updated in 1969. While plans are long-term guides, they are also very much creatures of the environment in which they are written. We know the pandemic won’t last forever, but we don’t know yet what a return to “normal” will look like or how long it will take us to recover. In drafting goals and policies for General Plan, we are thinking about what lessons from today are most informative for the long term and can help us better address the challenges we were already facing, such as the significant racial and income inequality that this crisis has exacerbated.

I consider myself lucky to work at an innovative government agency with exceptional colleagues who have pretty seamlessly transitioned to remote work, including holding a variety of online public meetings and regular Planning Board meetings.  We have figured out new ways to connect with each other and learned quickly how to make better use of our existing technology. Seeing the inside of people’s homes, kids, and pets has built more personal connections. My cat, who seems generally delighted by my new schedule, likes to sit in on meetings and I’ve only had a couple mishaps where she’s tried to participate.

I also want to take a moment to appreciate all of the people who are still going to work to keep the economy, key public services, and the health care system functioning, so the rest of us can have the luxury of staying safely at home. Humans are adaptable and resilient species and I am hopeful that we will get through this crisis stronger and more connected.  I wish everyone good health and a great weekend.

Carrie McCarthy
Research & Special Projects Division Chief, Montgomery County Planning Department
Incoming ULI NEXT Flight Leader

In ULI Washington’s new Leadership Insights column, ULI Washington will regularly feature member leader’s thoughts and insights as we adjust personally and professional to a “new normal.”