Many people paused to take stock of their work situation during the Covid pandemic.
Plenty opted to change course entirely, others resolved to change in other ways.
For Jamison Gibson-Park, that temporary cessation of the hamster wheel of normal life brought a realisation that whenever rugby resumed it was time to step up.
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After three years with Leinster, the Kiwi became eligible to play for Ireland in August 2019 but was a non-runner for the Rugby World Cup that year for Joe Schmidt.
Covid struck the following spring, just as Andy Farrell was settling in as Schmidt's successor. When the Six Nations went ahead in the autumn of 2020, the scrum-half came off the bench against Italy and France.
By the time the 2021 Six Nations started, he was the no 9 in pole position. He has retained that status ever since.
Players can get lucky sometimes and Gibson-Park's playing style - fast, attack-minded - was just what Farrell was looking for to change things up.
“That’s the way the coach wants to go, it suits my style," the 30-year-old said, before laughing: "I wouldn’t have got a look in under Joe Schmidt.
"I'm just happy to be here, to be honest. We have a pretty good working relationship, if you want to put it that way. Obviously I have a lot of respect for Faz and what he’s done in the coaching setup.
"He’s had a lot of faith in me, and that’s probably filled me with a bit of confidence, having him stick by me and not just him, the other coaches as well. Pretty good, I’d say."
Yet something tangible changed during lockdown, when Gibson-Park remained in Dublin for the duration.
Leinster had always relied on Luke McGrath as their go-to scrum-half for the big games, with Gibson-Park playing frequently but often off the bench in Europe and at the business end of the season.
When they returned to action in the autumn of 2020, the axis quickly shifted.
“During Covid, I worked pretty hard on what I was going to come back and do," said Gibson-Park. “It was just like whether I was going to give it a crack or not.
"It’s not that I was faffing around - but I was playing second fiddle at Leinster. I did start a few games but Lukey was number one and that was pretty obvious. I got a chance, I suppose, coming back after Covid.
“I wouldn’t say it was a crossroads for me, but I think mentally I was getting a bit older, and you try and figure out what you want to do. That was a pretty important period for me."
And had that enforced break never happened? “I don’t know what would have happened," Gibson-Park reflected. I could have stayed on that same kind of pathway. We’ll never know.
“It’s season to season and it rolls on so quickly, so you don’t get much time to reflect. But we got that during Covid by the bucketload.
"It was small steps. The first thing was to try to get the 9 jumper for Leinster and that was kind of that, really, and hopefully everything stems from there. That was the main focus for the start.
"The first few games coming back and playing for Leinster, I played really well. It was probably the best I felt in my career in terms of what I could put out on the pitch. I don’t know if Faz saw that or not, but he obviously brought me in then."
Such is his importance to Farrell that, having not played a game since the Tour-clinching victory against the All Blacks in July due to a hamstring problem, Gibson-Park was launched into the action against South Africa a fortnight ago when Conor Murray came off injured.
He finished the game wearing a scrum cap, after being caught on the top of the head by an errant stud, and wore it again for last Saturday's clash with Fiji. The stitches came out in midweek and he hopes to leave the scrum cap aside tonight.
The focus, of course, is on Australia. But having got this far, the big target is a first World Cup finals appearance next September.
Gibson-Park admitted: “100% yeah, it’s all about the World Cup. Growing up, all you want to do is get there.
"Those are the dreams you have, to visualise yourself at a World Cup. It’s obviously a long way off at this stage, but exciting times."
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