Does anybody else feel that things are stacked against them sometimes?
2019 for me was not so great so 2020 was going to ‘my’ year. A fresh start, new hope, gratitude for what I have and what I have accomplished. My new virtual assistant business ‘AKA Virtual Assistant’ was very much at the forefront of my mind and it was full steam ahead in successfully completing the Business Start-Up and Digital course at the beginning of March, led by a fantastic company called Successful Mums.
The first quarter of the year was spent well in preparing myself for being a business owner. Next, it was time to market myself, in person. Networking events, meeting contacts from old, becoming more visible and importantly, credible, in my new environment.
And then Covid-19 struck the UK and lockdown was enforced.
Lockdown Theory
Being a home bird, I thought little of staying indoors. Keeping my family safe was clearly the most important thing in our lives just now. In fact, I was secretly looking forward to spending more time with my husband and daughter (he was working but at least I knew he wasn’t going to be unnecessarily exposed to the virus) and to be able to spend my days home-schooling my daughter as well as launch AKA Virtual Assistant, this period would be indeed busy and challenging but I was used to that. What I most looked forward to was the rewards I gained from the new challenges.
The Reality
The reality soon hit me that lockdown was not going to be easy. The emotions of all of us became apparent: disbelief that what was happening was real and not, in fact, a film that I would have criticised as being far-fetched; the realisation that social interaction was being cut, our liberty taken away almost overnight; frustration and resentment that some people were going about their daily business as if nothing was different when we were abiding by the rules; lack of supply of essentials that we felt entitled to, toilet roll and bread were items that, in our country, we never thought we need to go without.
After these and many more feelings washed over me, I became acutely aware that I had taken the relatively simple things in life for granted for so long.
Rubbing Off
And the anxiety and stress I felt not being able to get the ‘essentials’, not being able to meet new people to drive my newly formed business forward, the uncertainty of how my family would interact with one another, the worry of poorly relatives that I could not visit or help all contributed to anxiety and stress in my daughter who was scared to leave the house and did not want to comply with home schooling, distance learning or any other phrase that many people had opinions on.
Resilience
It was about Day 4 or Day 5 that a switch flicked and I realised that I could not be all things to all people at this point in my life. I was feeling very low and knew that something had to change in order to get through this uncertain period as the mother, wife and business owner.
My daughter was showing signs of real anxiety and had negative thoughts which made my decision very easy.
I decided that the second week of ‘isolation’ would be spent focusing on my daughter, ensuring her emotional well-being was at the forefront of all I concentrated on at the same time as being tough on any negative language or behaviour that arose.
After all, if adults were experiencing all the emotions they were, how could a child evaluate and make sense of what they were feeling as well? I felt that if I ‘carried on as usual’, not only would my daughter suffer in the long-term, I would regret not making the right decision in the crisis we were facing.
And that, to me, is resilience.
Plans in life often do not work out the way we anticipate or wish. However, it is the manner in which we deal with things thrown at us that make us good problem solvers, prioritisers and crises managers.
We can only Become Stronger
The very unusual situation we find ourselves in can only make us stronger.
But I wonder how life will change after Covid-19?
Will people’s generosity and kindness continue or will they revert into their ‘bubbles’ going about their daily lives when this is all over?
Can businesses evaluate how remote working will benefit them?
Will families work hard to reduce wastage and value food and everyday items that they have taken for granted?
Resilience is defined as: “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness”.
Covid-19 is testing us, for sure, however, it is us to show that humans are programmed to be resilient and will hopefully help to make the world a better place.
To find out further what AKA Virtual Assistant can help you with, get in touch for a free, no obligation chat.
Anna
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