Coronavirus and its Aftermath – Dealing with Personal SEISMIC Change

By the Leadership Team at Azilient

The coronavirus pandemic presents a very real and disruptive change that affects our lives in comprehensive and penetrating ways.

The relevance of change management in these days of ongoing change and seemingly endless bad news brings us to key change adages:

·       Change occurs, whether we want it or plan for it.

·       We can choose how we respond to the change, but we can’t control all aspects of the change.

·       We can plan and prepare for change and even embrace change.

Change occurs….

Obvious, right? Then why were we so unprepared for this pandemic, this global and all ensuing change predicted by various current experts as early as 2014? We sometimes don’t hear or want to hear that change is coming. We hide our heads and try to ignore potentially bad things or we panic, overcome with anxiety and dread given the volume and severity of the changes we’re facing today.

We can choose…

While we can’t stop change from happening, we can choose how we respond to the change. Pandemics and epidemics in pre-global economy days have occurred for thousands of years. Archaeological studies on bones from as long ago as 4000 BC indicate epidemics strong enough to wipe out villages were occurring in various spots around the world.

We know change happens – sometimes good change like falling in peace treaties and sometimes not so good change like a pandemic. We know change has happened, we are experiencing change now, and we can safely assume change will continue to happen.

While we control some of the changes that impact us – learning new skills, improving our health, and working to help others in personal, professional, and community ways - the current pandemic reminds us that often, we can’t control the changes that impact us.

Most of us during this pandemic are not (yet) sick from the virus, but the changes remain life-changing. We are basically social animals. We’re now physically isolated in our homes. For those with large families, the whole family home with limited opportunities for personal and emotional space, creates a different set of challenges. Current estimates indicate hundreds of thousands of us will lose our jobs at least until the current crisis passes.

So, what can we choose when facing global, life-threatening and seismic change of enormous proportion and effect? We can choose to listen and carefully consider the information we receive and the sources that provide that information to ensure we base our choices on sound data and information. When we hear or learn of frightening change, we can work to avoid panic and focus on our action or response. We can consider if or how our responses and actions (or choices to not respond or act), even during pandemics can positively impact those around us and we can improve our ability to withstand the waves of change.

We are also an active and gregarious society, seeking opportunities to share our lives and existence with others. Spending days housebound, whether alone or with family, can quickly lead to an existential feeling of aloneness. These feelings may remind us that we’re human, but can sometimes overwhelm us with depression, anxiety, and hopelessness.

Personally, we can choose to implement activities that help mitigate these negative emotions and use this forced downtime to work on things we always say we’ll do, but never find the time to do.

Maslow’s hierarchy provides a structure for considering our needs and ways to meet those needs even in this time of crisis. Consider which, if any, of the following fit your current situation:

Physiological – food, water, shelter, and rest

Many people find themselves without income or shelter. Healthcare professionals are experiencing long work hours under a great deal of stress and may not have time or may even forget to eat, hydrate, and rest.

General recommendations:

·       Do something that calms your mind – meditation, journaling, crafts, or exercise, for example.

·       Stay on a schedule as much as possible – schedule meals, exercise, and relaxation activities.

·       Eat healthfully – while many of us naturally go to “comfort” foods during times of stress, possibly a socio-biological response to increase our energy, these foods have a negative effect on our housebound and physically inactive bodies. Choose proteins and, if you seek carbs and sweets, use fruits in moderation.

·       Exercise – exercise, we know, offers a variety of benefits, one of the biggest being production of endorphins providing a palliative effect to support us through this difficult time.

For those who have lost their jobs:

·       Research income alternatives – file for unemployment insurance, consider working for a delivery or logistics service since those services are currently in demand, reach out to temp agencies, and research online jobs.

·       Offer to provide (safe) services to others – lawn care, painting, and gardening are examples of activities you might perform to bring in temporary income.

For first responders and healthcare professionals:

·       You know what to do and probably don’t have time to read this article. Take excellent care of yourselves as you continue to care for others.

Safety – security

While the needs for basics like water and food described above are critical to existence, the current risk presented by the coronavirus affects all of us since no statistically significant research has been conducted on who is mortally affected by the virus.

General recommendations:

·       Continue to socially isolate to protect yourself, your family, and others from contracting the virus.

·       Stay healthy – eat well and exercise and also follow the advice from the science community – wash your hands, don’t touch your face, and remain 6 feet from others.

For those whose jobs bring them into contact with others:

·       Follow safety procedures as much as possible given the limited amount of personal protection equipment available.

·       Monitor your health and identify if you begin demonstrating any symptoms.

Belongingness and Love – intimacy and friendships

For those living alone or who feel as if they live alone, the absence of interpersonal interactions with friends and family compound the feeling of isolation. For those who live with others, this time may support the saying “absence makes the heart grow fonder” as you experience more time without breaks from your roommates or loved ones and more frequent disagreements and arguments. We miss our friends and our ability to meet with our network, a number of people who support us personally and professionally.

General recommendation:

·       Reach out to others – use email, text, social media, phone, or even send homemade cards to others. Not only will this open and possibly strengthen your network, it will undoubtedly make those you contact feel better as well.

Esteem – prestige and feeling of accomplishment

We all bring gifts differing to the world. Social isolation makes it difficult to remember that we do bring value to the world even if we aren’t working, aren’t producing documents or outputs, or aren’t able to see and physically comfort our friends and family.

General recommendations:

·       Continue to practice and hone what you do, even sharing examples virtually if appropriate. Teachers are instructing young children by internet. Certainly not ideal, this improvised approach forces teachers, children, and parents to change how they teach, learn, and mentor, but may result in building resilience as each of those groups realizes they can be successful even in less than ideal circumstances. This includes physical achievements as well: increase the number of sit-ups or pushups you can do, improve your running time, or practice new skincare or makeup methods.

·       Identify new ways to accomplish tasks. Teachers are creating caravans and driving through their students’ neighborhoods to encourage the children emotionally and as physically as possible. Restaurants and groceries deliver and focus on car side pickup to support communities in remaining healthy through social isolation. Companies that typically require individuals to come to work daily have relatively quickly implemented processes that allow individuals to work from home.

·       Learn something new. The internet provides a wealth of resources to support virtually any subject matter research. Learn management and leadership skills or a new language, for example.

Self-Actualization – achieving one’s full potential, including creative activities

Find ways to express your thoughts, emotions, and even physical situation and share with those you trust. Doing so stretches and increases your own creativity and will inspire others to do the same.

·       Be creative professionally. Attempt creative activities you’ve wanted to do but haven’t had the time to do. Consider creative ways to improve yourself professionally through self-examination and re-invention. Identify creative ways you can change your wardrobe by mixing and matching.

·       Be creative generally. Learn to paint or write poetry. Find new ways to interact with and enrich your family. Attempt something you’ve wanted to do but haven’t done before (within reason). Don’t attempt anything physically risky (since our healthcare system may not be able to care for you). If you’ve thought about writing a screenplay or book or new craft idea, now is the perfect time to give yourself the opportunity to do them.

Plan and prepare….

This pandemic as with previous pandemics will end. Making good choices until then to protect yourself and others and using this time to focus on positive activities makes the day go more quickly and results in a healthier, (relatively) happier, and improved you.

Now is a good time to begin planning and preparing yourself for the next set of changes we’ll experience. Increased job opportunities, a community eager to reconnect, and an opportunity for other positive changes will follow the pandemic. The activities mentioned above for improving your health and skillsets are just the beginning.

Like businesses, we can do personal strategic planning. What is your vision for yourself? Where would you like to go (personally, professionally, physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually, etc.) and how might you get there? Which of those paths seems most reasonable (and pleasurable) for you? Document the activities and milestones you think mark the best plan for achieving your goals. Which of those activities are most important or urgent? Which must be done before you can move to the next milestone? Prioritize your next steps, check them off when you complete them, and celebrate – even if that is a frozen pizza alone in your own home.

Periodically, revisit the list. You will find that you, the opportunities open to you, and the circumstances surrounding you may have changed. You may need to revise your list either by rearranging the priorities, removing activities that no longer fit your personal vision for yourself, and even considering identifying a new vision. The goals are attainable but may become less appealing to you as you identify other opportunities. Allow yourself the very human act of failing periodically, and work to not allow fear to keep you from working toward your dreams.

These activities won’t eliminate the possibility of other changes impacting our lives, but we can choose to identify alternative paths around, through, or over the barriers, and look forward to the next job opportunity, love, friendship or other opportune events to buoy us again.

Mostly, consider and be gentle with your emotions and those of others. We all interpret change through different emotional filters. Some have feelings of anxiety regarding the uncertainty we’re facing, others experience depression due to job loss or a feeling of hopelessness, and others may be enjoying the downtime and being home more than ever before. Everyone won’t respond to the crisis as you do and we can’t know why people respond as they do. Allow them to feel what they feel, work to keep your own emotions in check, and when possible, try to support them as best you can.