Coronavirus Archives

What Will We Tell Our Children?

You’re creating a narrative

How did we respond when the virus started in Wuhan, China? How did we prepare once it spread?

Depending on your country of residence at the time, each answer will be different. Some of us ignored the problem until it was too late. Others will say that their government overreacted and although people are safe, there were unknown effects on the economy that we didn’t see coming.

Regardless of what will happen, we will all share one common answer. We continued to live.

Things changed after the virus, but that didn’t stop us from living our lives in the pursuit of happiness. The little details of how we continued our lives will also matter because our children will want to know. It’s important to keep this in mind as we go throughout our new routines—some of which may end up becoming permanent.

Image Credit: Unsplash

The Ideal Workday

How we think about where we should work is changing rapidly

Now is the most opportune time for us to consider what makes up the ideal workday. Do we need an office with a fancy oak wood desk? Must we have to commute every single morning at 6:00AM on a crowded train or in slow traffic? Why are we getting up in the morning, what is the purpose of our work?

For many of us, these times will be difficult. Not only are we being pressured to still perform at our best, but we are also being challenged to do this while stuck at home. We don’t have a supervisor who is going to monitor our behavior. We have been given more responsibility and some of us aren’t prepared for it. And yet, this new responsibility can give us the chance to design how we do our work.

The ideal workday will now be something that we can choose, rather than it be something that happens by chance. We can decide which tasks are most important, how often we need to communicate with our clients and our team, and when breaks are really appropriate. We don’t need to tiptoe around others who may not be fond of our company, nor do we need to worry about our outward appearance or attire.

The work is what’s most important. We can now enjoy the nuances, the small details of what we do. When things return to the norm, many of us will find it strange. At that moment when we don’t recognize what we are doing, even though we’ve done it before, we must ask ourselves why do we feel this way.

We may begin to see that there are some benefits to working from home and from working remotely. It isn’t for everyone but, there will certainly be a lot of us who may consider a change.

Image Credit: Unsplash