If you live on Planet Earth, then you’ve probably become very aware of the need for the drastic reorganisation that our societies are going through. If you read Wise Wednesdays, then you’re likely someone who easily attunes to the large scale dynamics (emotional and psychological) and are feeling them keenly as you try to ground yourself and tap into the forward flow of the universe.
It also happens to be four years this month since I started working from home and almost exclusively online. I’ve been in a lockdown of sorts for 4 years and it’s been eye opening in ways that I hadn’t expected. With coronavirus, I believe we are just catching up to the future of work and society. We’re being forced to pivot and realign with a new (and ignored) reality. Our mindset has to change.
But there are a few walls of fear to break through as one realigns, whether it’s just you or you and your family including: fear of loneliness, uncertainty, lack of guidance and lack of structure. They are common to any big change and even more so under the current circumstances. The truth is we have to self-lead and lead others in better ways.
The questions I see coming up at the moment seem to fall in these 4 areas:
How can I best look after myself and the people around me?
What will happen to my life plans/job?
Do I really have to do this remote/online work thing?
Who can I trust for information?
Where can I find more toilet paper?
I see the focus right now for coaches and allied professions as helping people to answer these questions and use their gifts to help with the Big Pivot.
We will get through this (or not) and we will have learned important lessons (or not) to let go of old narratives including:
Self-care: burnout is not helpful. Time to recalibrate your settings and understand true resilience of the mind-body. In times of stress, up your self-care practices. Coronavirus is likely to be with us for a while and will probably become endemic. Here’s a World Health Organization advice on psychological health at this time which includes reducing media consumption.
Learning to work more independently of authority including online/remotely: the disaster statistics (for epidemics and weather related disasters) suggest these sorts of events are likely to become more frequent and affect larger numbers of people. It’s our responsibility to be prepared even if organisations are slow. The research also shows that leadership has to become more distributed to cope with the level of disruption
Reskilling / repurposing: we can no longer afford to waste people’s zone of genius, gifts and talents on ineffective, profit-driven work cultures. What are your true gifts and how can you put them to use in the world? Start now in small ways. Time to pivot and realign with your truth.
Enhanced understanding of our interconnectedness: whether we realised it or not, a butterfly flapping its wings in Wuhan can affect your access to a latte in London or New York. We need to get this. Nation states are a fabrication and so is the idea that our future is more important than someone else’s. In the meantime, here’s how scientists are trying to learn from each other’s country experiences to address the epidemic (Imperial College Faculty of Medicine latest Covid-19 summary Report 9).
I hope to continue sharing whatever insights might be helpful in the coming weeks as they arise.
I’m not taking on new coaching clients at the moment and focusing on caring for my current clients. But if you’d like to have a short coaching conversation to connect and help you with your pivot into the new situation, reply to this message.
If you’d like to see a webinar on skills and mindset for the pivot we’re going through, reply to this message.
Yes, we will survive and thrive. Or not. But we certainly can.
Amina
p.s. JWe're still going ahead with the next webinar on March 25th 6pm UK / 1pm EST. Aidan and I will be there to support whoever is able to participate. We've shifted the theme to focus on how to respond to coronavirus in work and life. Registration here: www.doctoramina.com/webinar
