Call it as you wish, it is what it is
It is a bit sickening by now to hear how this all situation is our new “normal”. Let’s all agree that it is far from normal, but we all been woken up one morning and told that this is it now, so how about call it “the best we can do right now” situation.
It’s far from normal to be locked down at home between 4 walls. It’s one thing when you choose to stay at home, work from home, go to shop, for a walk, visit your grandma, stop at the cinema in the evening and have your favourite meal in Turkish restaurant. But when you wake up one morning and you are told that this is over now, and if you want to get food you have to hunt for it, this is not ok. It’s not ok when you go to shop and some person shouts at you that you don’t stand far enough from them. It’s not ok when people are mean to each other, cough on each other?! And have no respect for others. You think this is our new “normal”?
This all situation reminded me of the Kanban course that I took last year and in particular the picture above, where we been exploring how changes affects business, teams, people. You introduce a small change and before everything will start to go up and show the improvement works there is always a dip. How big dip depends on how big change. Covid-19 is not only a change to one business, team or some small team, it’s a change for all world and the dip… I can’t see the bottom just yet. This hit is rather devastating and many thinks who the hell was that idiot who introduced it.
People are not ok with small changes. We are humans and as much as we think that we have facts first there are always feelings put forward. In these times I always remember the book “thinking fast, thinking slow” as it exactly shows the reality. Everyone is playing numbers and statistics, but deep inside it’s all about our feelings and our well being after all this is over. A lot of social media speculations that plays with people minds.
There are many people affected. Some lost jobs, some has no food, many are fighting for they life right now as you read this, and even more of them has to deal with this over and over again, count dead bodies in their hospitals and tell their children that it’s ok and they will come back home safe and healthy even though they don’t know that. Mental health at this point is so important. People with depression normally has to fight every day to make it, but in these times who knows how many more will join that squad and will need a lot of time to recover from this. I thought I was doing much better since last post about my own mental health, but in times like these I find myself back in box room with all the worst thoughts dragging me down. It’s hard and i am not even close to those who suffer every day.
So let’s stop calling this our new “normal”. We are all just humans and we can do as best as we can. Let’s make sure that this horrible situation just brings the best out of us. Let’s still be humans to each other even if it’s from a meter away. Let’s not give up to this horrible virus. This is the most important time to be kind to each other. To send message to your work colleague or a friend or a family member and make that small talk, many appreciates this much more than expected. There is always someone out there who feels similar way. You are important right now and you need to take care of yourself. Admitting that you are not ok is the first, hardest step. After that it starts to feel better. Don’t give up. After every fall there is a rise.
