“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity”

— Albert Einstein  
Physicist & Nobel Laureate

Early in the first weeks of the Coronavirus Pandemic I floated the metaphor of Marathon as a way of describing the collective event that we are currently experiencing. I was less enamored with the “War” metaphor as I don’t like war or violence. Though I can understand the posture of battling something. As I have battled Cancer and remaining self-employment and bullying and recessions and the everyday challenges that one’s life presents. I apply my heads-down, ‘warrior-mentality’ to anything that is hard mentally or physically and call out the ‘Momma Bear’ fierceness when a friend is in need. Still I didn’t want to battle or engage in navigating my first pandemic or make the fight for our lives and livelihoods into a war of sides. That is why I went searching of a different metaphor.

My use of the metaphor came with a question, “If COVID-19 is a marathon for which we have not done the pre-requisite training, what strategies will you use to run, complete and survive the race?” I asked this question of friends, colleagues and clients. I shared their thoughts. I broadened my perspective.

Now I find myself thirteen weeks into the marathon with no finish line in sight and the symptoms of working from home are showing up.

Are you experiencing any of these things?

You can only hold on to the activities of the day that you are living. The days are so full and have no natural breaks and the emails have increased, the calls are longer and the virtual meetings via technology make it feel like there is more work than ever. I have made the comment and have heard the comment from veteran managers and leaders said repeatedly, “I have never worked as hard or as intensely as I am right now.” Three months in and people are tired from the pace, the tsunami of transformation that needed to occur and the lack of personal time. We don’t have any natural breaks of drive time, time in between meetings or the need to switch gears between household responsibilities and work.

 A tip for combating this new way of working is to make agreements about the boundaries around work time and home time. Everyone should be speaking openly about their needs and challenges. Good employees will work to their goals and should not be clocking hours for time sake. You might consider having one day a week for no meetings or virtual calls allowing for people to get things done.

And remember, hardest hit are those with children at home or elder care responsibilities that stretches them beyond the hours in each day.

A second symptom that I have observed is that individuals start a sentence or thought and cannot finish it. Our minds are filled with so much emotional distraction it is like an operating system that keeps eating up our mental ‘disc space’. It is sometimes hard to hold a thought train. I can start walking across the room to do something and forget what it was I wanted to do before arriving at my destination.

The other day I referred to myself as a ‘zombie robot’ making my way through the day. Head down just working the list.

I have discovered that it is important to take breaks, get outside, laugh and do something other than work or a responsibility. I recommend filling your head with good stuff, sing and dance …. be silly and sit down and play with your pets or children.

What makes this more challenging is that there is no end in sight. Plans for vacations are upended and children have no structure for their summers. I, who was raised in the 60’s without the internet or too many summer structured activities wandered the woods, played in my neighborhood, built a treehouse, gardened and went to a nearby farm. All of those activities are harder to do and achieve social distancing. Families are really challenged to find meaningful ways to use the precious time of summer.

You might consider going old school. Think of all of the fun things you did before the internet that involved nature, arts and crafts, music, cooking and other stuff. Find your ‘inner camp counselor’ and make weekends into adventures.

Many individuals with whom I have spoken have talked about being overwhelmed with responsibility and not enough energy or hours in the day. Real physical fatigue, weight gain, and other habits that can put us out of balance are showing up.

I have never run a marathon but can imagine that the middle section gets really challenging. I think that we have reached a sense of ‘middle’. We are well into the life style of pandemic but cannot see the end. Middle has too much limbo feeling for me. So it is time to break the race into smaller pieces – to set goals in smaller time frames. And the rewards, recognition and celebration need to come more frequently. This is both a mental and physical race for long-term well-being of our health, families, workplaces and communities.

Tag team with your life partner and your work partners giving them time to do some self-care. Give permission for them to take some time off. Watch for the signs of imbalance and help each other along. Make referrals to your organization’s Employee Assistance Program when needed.

As our workplaces open you will encounter most individuals as very cooperative and compliant with the need to follow new guidelines. There is a mutual awareness that is shared when out in public running errands that we need to keep ourselves and other safe with our masks, social distancing and hand sanitizing. It is also easy to see (especially on the weekends) that people just want to do what they want to do without the confines of the masks, distance and other COVID-19 healthy habits. People just want a break from what feels like restrictions. And sometimes they are acting out. And going rogue.

If you encounter such behavior try not to judge it too harshly and keep yourself safe. Each of us is going to fall apart along the way and pull it back together. Keep up the kindness. Smile and wave. Say thank you. Let’s rediscover civility as a way of life.

I can see individuals working hard, pulling together, talking it out, asking for and accepting help, thinking of others, keeping it all in perspective and coming to terms with our new reality. We are resilient and yet tired.

Let’s find our way through!!!

Leslie

 “The beginning is typically fresh and exciting and goes by fast, while the end is the last push;
but for me, the middle is where the real grind and biggest mental concentration and expenditure seems to be.
The middle is where you have to stay engaged and really commit.”

— Rachel Schneider
Professional middle-distance runner