The last several weeks have presented us with many new challenges – to say the least. We have all found ourselves being forced to learn new things and quickly adjust to different routines. Change of this caliber is not easy to handle. Most of the change initiatives that we’ve become familiar with over the course of our careers are rolled out gradually‚ think organizational restructuring or cultural changes, for example. But the changes we’ve had to make due to COVID-19 have been far from gradual! In fact, they’ve been painfully abrupt. We had no time to familiarize ourselves with our new job functions, daily schedules or work-from-home technologies because we went from zero to 60 in no time at all.
Considering the rapid escalation of the novel coronavirus and the sudden onset of our new “normal,” we are all probably feeling quite frustrated with ourselves as we struggle to adjust to our new technologies, schedules and routines as quickly as we’d like to.
But here’s an important reminder for all of us: breathe, slow down and cut yourself some slack! Having to jump into a new “normal” while being completely unprepared for it is hard, and we shouldn’t expect ourselves to not be frustrated! We must be patient with ourselves, our colleagues, our families and everyone we interact with as we take on each day. The chances are high that none of us feel completely put together right now – and that’s okay. We need to give ourselves, and those around us, some grace to figure things out and learn as we go.
Taking some time to be mindful that we’re all in this together, and intentionally giving ourselves (and others) the room to make mistakes as we learn new things, is what will help ease our frustrations and get us through. Even better, we should try reframing our situation to think of this time as an opportunity to grow and learn how to do things we otherwise never would have learned. This is a time to be thankful for our ability to adapt to change and learn new things!
