Here is the transcript for today’s mini-episode in The How to Not Panic Sessions.
Hey there, everyone. I’m kinda liking this daily hang out we have going on. We are on day 6 of this mini-series, and here in KC, it feels like it’s about day 6 of the Coronavirus quarantine, too. So this all feels fully aligned.
I have been doing these episodes every day, literally off the cuff. I’ve been taking these topics as they’ve felt right to me and I’ve listened to what I’m hearing from you, from my students, from my clients, and I’ve incorporated the questions and concerns that I’m hearing the most. But I think this series is going to turn into something that we can use as often as we need to to navigate the Coronavirus pandemic AND something that we can return to when we emerge from this and when we begin to create a new normal for ourselves. In fact I’m going to be making this series into a video course over the next few weeks, so I’ll let you know when that’s ready for you, ok?
So, let’s talk about the new normal today. I heard someone on the news say something about returning to “normal,” about getting back to “life as we knew it before this happened.” And I thought: no. Not quite. Some things of course will go back to what they were before. We’ll be able to go to the store without thinking twice about it and we will have parties with ALL of our people and we will travel and we will hug each other. I cannot wait for those things to return to normalcy.
But also...we have an opportunity here. The rarest, most wild, most unimaginable opportunity ever. Literally.
Seth Godin wrote a fantastic article the other day called The Conversation. You can find it on his website. He was talking about the current situation of moving all of our work and education online; that on the one hand, we live in the most perfect technological moment in history to not only survive but potentially thrive in a pandemic thanks to the power of the internet. But also, there’s the real risk that as we take things online, we take the problems of real-life work and meetings and school days and exacerbate them. The article is great, especially if you work in the corporate world or if you’re in the education system.
But here’s the point of his article and why I think it’s important to consider the NEW normal: we have a real chance to start fresh and take what WASN’T working and make it better. Everything has been stopped or closed or canceled. SO MANY things are going to have a moment where they RE-start in the future.
And when these things re-start, we can begin them again EXACTLY as we left them...or we can ask ourselves and each other and our organizations and communities...what do we WANT here?
Here’s a quick example: both of my boys have had their sports canceled. My older son plays golf, my younger son plays soccer. And it’s going to be very interesting to see during this break, this quarantine...do you miss it? What do you miss about it? How do you want to re-engage with it? Are you dying for it to just go back to how it was? Do you want to engage with it differently? How do you want to re-start?
That’s a small example, but an interesting one.
What about the meetings that you have at work? There are some meetings that people have had to cancel, I’ve talked to a few different clients in a few different industries about this...the meetings that aren’t happening right now. How does it affect the organization? Is anything being held back or delayed or confused because the meeting isn’t in place? What purpose does the meeting serve? Or...has time and energy and brain power been freed up because that meeting isn’t happening?
Question being: when we go to create the NEW normal, does this meeting have a place? Or do we chuck this meeting and start AGAIN in a totally new way? A more productive way? A BETTER way?
SO interesting, right?
If you consider human beings, as a species, homo sapiens, we’ve been on the planet and evolving for the past 200,000 years. We have been around and EVOLVING for 200,000 years. We were MADE for this moment. Human beings are ready to survive and evolve past this pandemic...just as we have before.
We are in a liminal period, that moment that isn’t BEFORE, but we aren’t nearly to the AFTER yet. It’s like when you’re engaged and you aren’t single, but you aren’t married yet either. Or when you’re pregnant: you’re not NOT a parent, but you’re not FULLY a parent yet either. It’s the in-between.
We are in the in-between right now. All of us. Globally. Together.
And each of us has the opportunity to challenge the status quo. To reflect on what normal WAS and ask ourselves: what do I want normal to BE? How can I start creating my new normal now? What will my new normal need from me? How will my new normal be different?
And along those same lines...consider what has been postponed or canceled that may just never need to start up again.
We will our lives with so much BUSYness and doing and going and accomplishing. But the 2 most common things I’m hearing from you during this crisis are: 1) how do I get my work done and handle my day with the kids at home doing online schooling (which is what we talked about yesterday here), and 2) I’m kinda grateful for the break. People say that second one in a quieter voice, they’re hushed about it, like we’re not SUPPOSED to feel a little gratitude during a global pandemic.
I get it. We have this idea that not only should we be worried and fearful because of the Coronavirus, but we also got the memo from the gods of adulting that success and productivity and value is directly related to how busy and frazzled and chaotic we are. And so many people right now are breathing a sigh of...well, maybe it’s not relief exactly, given the global crisis, but a sigh of freedom. Freedom is maybe a better word. Free from the shackles of other peoples’ schedules and expectations and the bus coming and going and the tests and the sports and the deadlines and the meetings. Freedom from all of the external pressures. Freedom from DOING. Because we are far more free to JUST BE right now than we have been ever before.
So look around. Check in with what’s happening in your work life, family life, home life. What’s new, what’s canceled. What’s temporary, and what just cannot happen right now. What was the old normal...and what is your NEW normal going to be?
Just an amazing opportunity and moment. For all of us.
Ok, I love you guys. I’m thinking of you all and I’ll see you again tomorrow for another short, mini episode in this series, The How to Not Panic Sessions. Don’t hesitate to reach out - you can find me on Instagram @khanlinmccormick or through my website, www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com. We can do hard things and we can do hard things together. Alright, my friends?
Ok, see you tomorrow. And until then, take care.
