by Amanda Wiriya
Pandemic. National Crisis. Quarantine. Three statements that, up until Friday, I can honestly say I have never typed. I grew up in Hurricane Alley. I’ve seen empty grocery store shelves and panicked people, but this is something completely different.
Different is the key word here. I am grounded from travel in what would have normally been our spring travel season, my son doesn’t have school for at least two weeks, if not longer, and all of our extracurricular activities from CrossFit to Wineries have halted. And yes, I just made that comparison. We all relax in different ways! And after two weeks of no school, wineries will be needed.
All jokes aside, this is a different and uncertain time. We simply don’t have answers to give. As a mother, leader, and friend, it can be an overwhelming place to be in. Some people are self quarantining, some are breaking into the stock market at epically low rates, and some are getting crippled by the unknown. How many people will end up with the virus versus how many people will end up bankrupt by it? These are questions that certainly deserve to keep us up at night, but unfortunately, losing sleep over them won’t provide the answers.
After a long, sleepless weekend, here’s where I am: I lost more sleep over wondering how to normalize life for my 10-year-old who can’t completely fathom what is going on, as well as how to proceed with business as normal at our company for our team and customers, than I lost over locating toilet paper and hand sanitizer. So while I can’t provide certainty or answers to my team, customers, or my 10-year-old, here’s what I can do.
I can embrace the fact that at work and at home my time is no longer cluttered with busyness. I’ve been given gifts of time and presence, which I rarely get, so I plan on taking advantage of them.
At home, we are going to enjoy the opportunity to unplug together. I won’t be spending hours in the minivan each night, playing taxi from event to event. Instead, we can spend time doing activities at home and getting reacquainted over the dinner table. I may not be able to create a world of certainty but I can absolutely create a home filled with one. I hope out of this time together that when our son goes back to school and we inevitably go back to the busyness, that he will miss all the cozy time we spent as a family in our home. If that’s how he remembers this pandemic, it would be perfectly fine with me.
At Wepco, there are rarely days much less weeks where I do not have an offsite event, conference, tour or customer visit. And while I love each of these opportunities to engage with our community, customers, and colleagues, it also limits the time I can invest in our team at Wepco. So while for a company as active as ours who believes strongly in growing together, it was absolutely heartbreaking to close our doors to visitors and cancel our travel plans, I completely plan on embracing the opportunity to reconnect with our team at Wepco. This has given me a unique opportunity to conquer some things on our ever-growing wish list of improvements, invest time within my team and also reconnect with our customers via email or phone.
So there’s my perspective on the Coronavirus and here’s my Covid-19 challenge to you: while the world around us is swimming in chaos and spiraling into doom, let’s embrace the time we’ve been given. Grab a board game and look your family in the eyes over dinner. Cherish those moments. Grab a glass or bottle of wine (obviously dependent on how long this plays out), turn on your computer camera and video chat with a friend or customer. We are all stuck in this together, and they may really appreciate the virtual opportunity to connect over happy hour. Please feel free to swap the wine out for coffee if this precedes 11am. You get the point.
Instead of giving into the fear and panic, let’s turn our time into an investment that will pay off long after the hysteria fades. I promise your family will cherish the memories, your team will feel united and your customer relationships will develop.
Stay safe out there, don’t hoard the toilet paper and please share the stories of your time well invested. I can’t wait to see the return on your investments!