Friends and colleagues always inspire each other as thoughts and feelings are expressed. The following is a current example.
David Longfield-Smith, Retail Food Lead for Southwest Florida’s Blue Zones Project (BZP), shared these reflections after reviewing a recent Blue Zones Project Bulletin, focused on responding to COVID-19 with renewed purpose:
“While the suggestions apply to anyone in the world, some might not think it is written for them. Perhaps we should have a Bulletin that speaks to more diverse lives? If we meet people where they are, perhaps more will be inspired to take charge of their well-being and adopt our recommendations.
I am thinking of four groups:
- The ‘I’m OK staying home’ group that is doing alright and wants to stay healthy, motivated, and find purpose.
- The ‘We’re all working from home’ group that can work from home, but so are their kids. The house could be crowded, and perhaps relationships are tested.
- The ‘I’m home without a job’ group that has lost their jobs, and for economic or other reasons might not be able to work anytime soon.
- The ‘I still go to work’ group that has a job but might be working in close contact with colleagues and/or the public, with increased risk of exposure.”
“Growth After Trauma” is both the title of an article in the Harvard Business Review July-August 2020 issue and an experience everyone should want as the journey continues through the pandemic. How can we make a bad experience better? How do we take a negative and turn it into a positive? Psychologists call this phenomenon post-traumatic growth.
Recognizing personal strengths, exploring new possibilities, improving relationships, appreciating life, and growing spiritually, are all examples gleaned from the HBR article that can be applied to our current dramatic societal change.
Will we need fewer offices but modified spaces at home to be effective with work? Will digital learning become the default for school children, while traditional classroom learning becomes secondary? At the university level, will students physically need to be in proximity to receive an education?
Healthcare embraced telemedicine almost instantly, delivering care safely, efficiently, and without travel. The wasted time and energy of daily commuting has decreased. Perhaps hiring decisions will not be limited to local proximity. The gig economy will thrive as the pool of gig workers with specific talents has already entered a growth phase.
How does growth after trauma pertain to David Longfield-Smith’s groups? Some combination of changes going forward will likely address concerns for all four—new equipment and safety practices at work, new careers taking advantage of past experience and new opportunities, new ways to educate children, and new ways to stay home while keeping fit and motivated.
Eventually, the threat of COVID-19 will abate; when this occurs, we will be left with the positives—all examples of growth after trauma. Let’s get ready to begin the next chapter.
