“Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it’s less good than the one you had before.” ~ Elizabeth Edwards
The theme for September was resilience.
Three years ago, I wrote about resilience in the context of my son Dave’s thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. You can read that post here.
Resilience is adapting to adversity and stress in our lives – family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors. It’s bouncing back from difficult experiences.
Six months into a global pandemic that’s disrupted everyone’s life in ways we never anticipated, we’re faced with our own resilience challenges.
2020 has challenged us — both individually and collectively — to respond to unforeseen challenges, including those indirectly related to the virus — remote work, while homeschooling kids; the efficacy of physically returning to offices or kids to schools; caring for vulnerable family members; reacting to oppositional approaches to public COVID management tactics. We’ve ALL had to deal with these and other issues. None of us have been immune (pun intended).
And at times we’ve been tested in ways we’ve not been previously. We’ve had to come to terms with our beliefs and values. Some of us have adjusted; some have stood firm. Some have found ourselves changed in ways never expected.
What’s Been Your 2020 Wake-up Call?
This question came up in a podcast by the folks at Career Attraction Associates. The co-CEOs, Kevin Kermes and Olivia Gamber, were discussing leadership and vulnerability and how they’ve manifested during this disruption.
Each shared their thoughts about working with each other, their staff, and their clients and how that’s changed since March. They observed that their feelings of vulnerability mirrored those of their clients who were seeking new positions. Clients felt the need to demonstrate “professionalism” — to not show how they’ve been emotionally impacted by the COVID disruption.
Kevin and Olivia encourage clients to acknowledge their vulnerability and understand how it works for them. That is how they’re building their resilience in 2020.
So, what’s been your 2020 wake up call?
What have you embraced to be resilient during this incredible disruption? What’s worked for you? What hasn’t worked that you were surprised by?
Send me an email (scott@scottwoodardcoaching.com) and let me know. I’d love to hear how you’re doing.
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Image copyright: Frank Peters