As my emotions swirl, I find myself desperate for some positivity. The media are running rampant with stories about COVID-19 and with so much paranoia around, I wake up every morning convinced that I have a sore throat.
I feel like we are playing a weird game of Chess, the rules have changed but the goal hasn’t, the point is to win and I am determined to win. Success over this pandemic and victory over my own character flaws.
Process has changed
I have great respect for anyone managing to remote work in this crisis because normal processes have gone straight out of the window. Whether you are in B2C or B2B, the face-to-face element is gone, the art of the handshake is a distant memory and even simple things like a telephone call have become tricky.
Many businesses face total annihilation due to this pandemic and even those that are managing to survive are stressed, stressed to the point that even having a candid conversation on the phone is difficult.
I feel like my job now is to be “Mr. Understanding” and it is. That IS my job, as a Sales Executive and Account Manager, my job now is to understand, to put myself in the shoes of my prospect, to embrace the stress of my client because with patience and an element of understanding, we will survive this pandemic and we will be stronger in the end.
Lynch the negative
Anxiety levels have been through the roof lately, I ask myself: Have you felt this level of anxiety before? I cast my mind back and remember my time at school, the last time I felt this unsure of where I was going with my life and what was the right or wrong thing to do.
The media is now very much like the bullies that I had to contend with back then, rumours are rife and social media means that misinformation can spread like wildfire, engulfing everything in its path.
I am not saying that this pandemic isn’t world-changing because it is. The world economies are in total disarray and a global recession is imminent. That being said, we are not in control of the world economy but we are in control of ourselves, our headspace and what we choose to give our time to. We need to follow the guidelines set out by local governments and stop the constant trawling through media websites because they are selling the same thing, doom and gloom!
Grasp the Positive
Thanks to the 4th industrial revolution we have a bounty of information at our fingertips, whether it is on our phones, tablets, laptops or TV’s. The information on offer is generally negative but that means that we are looking in the wrong places. For every article that we read telling us, we are all doomed, it is up to us to find another article that has an air of positivity around it and in doing that we can take back some of our power.
We control our feeds, be it on LinkedIn or Facebook and we have the power to see posts that promote the positive. We need to fill our feeds with good news stories and create a positive space for ourselves. The simplest of actions can have the biggest impact on our headspace, a simple call to a friend that we haven’t spoken to in a while, learning something new can also leave you feeling invigorated, be it learning a new language or how to cook a new meal. Exercise is essential, I find that getting my blood pumping helps me to flush the negative feelings. Take the time to evaluate your headspace, Chin up! Chair in! Push on!
