This may seem a bit much, even for an optimist, but hear me out, because it’s not as crazy as you might think.
It’s human nature to see everything we do as part of an incremental process. Things tend to change slowly from one day to the next in almost imperceptible ways, and our major projects, be they at work, or as part of a home renovation, or any major life change tend to take time, effort, sweat, the grind, etc. The thing is, big changes happen more than we realize. Crises can change things in a minute.