Covid has been a gamechanger. Period.
We were made to pause, momentarily, to respond to a real threat to our very existence.
We complied with requests to work from home, to physically distance, to stay in lockdown and get vaccinated when that became an option.
In that moment, did you pause to reflect on how things had been prior to the global pandemic? What did you hope would be better, or changed, consequently?
Were you left with fresh inspiration, that this was a massive opportunity to shift towards a more human-centric workplace, where focused attention would be paid to ensure the health and wellbeing of every employee?
Or were you the cynic, who believed things would just go back to how they had always been, because memories are short and as humans we love to stay with the status quo, even when this causes us pain or hardship?
Behavioural change is hard.
I know that to be true because I too have struggled to stay on track, to do things differently and get a better outcome.
As a GP I worked hard with all my patients, encouraging them to adopt healthier behaviours, to challenge self-limiting beliefs and to nurture their wellbeing. There were times when this was successful, and we celebrated and patted each other on the back.
And times when it didn’t.
Recovery can be painfully slow and can sometimes feel like a waste of effort.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
While we continue to wrestle with the “unprecedented” (can you say that word without cringing?) level of uncertainty, despair and doom-mongering that is delivered daily courtesy of our media and social channels, what if you chose to call this out for what it is, and adopted a new course?
What has been your response to the level of well-washing going on?
Are you frustrated by the noise being generated by calls for change, because you fear the noise will be ignored, overlooked, and quickly forgotten?
What are you willing to do for yourself to #GetAhead?
There are several factors we can all adopt to aid in our personal and collective recovery.
- Remind yourself of your strengths and values. What do you stand for? What gives you the greatest sense of purpose and meaning? How committed are you to hold fast to your principles and do what you see as the right thing.
- Seek support. It’s hard to be effective when operating as a lone ranger. Advocate for positive change and ask others to help. That invitation is sometimes all that is needed to get things happening.
- Expect hiccups, obstacles, and failures. Recovery can be plagued by the unexpected. Being as best prepared as you can requires planning for the worst outcome. Holding a premortem helps to take the gloss off those rose-tinted glasses of “she’ll be right.”
- Stay curious to what hasn’t worked, ask what you can learn from mistakes, and stay open to new ideas, opinions and suggestions that differ from your own.
- Celebrate those small steps to recovery. See how far you’ve come, and the gains you’ve already made that serve to keep you on track and motivated for the longer journey.
Recovery?
Yes, we’re on the way.
I’d love to know what you’re doing to #GetAhead
What’s been working for you?
Dr Jenny Brockis is a Linkedin Top Voice, medical practitioner and board-certified lifestyle medicine physician, keynote speaker and best-selling author. Her new book Thriving Mind: How to Cultivate a Good Life (Wiley) is now available for purchase
