I spend most of my week processing new realities with business, non-profit and church leaders. While I hate the destruction this pandemic has brought, the changes have created fuel for growth. Serious growth. We’re all growing at a ridiculous rate right now just to survive.
We’re all disoriented. We can’t quite name where we are or where we’re heading, but we know we’re on a journey. After hundreds of conversations I began journaling through phases we have moved through and (I think) we will be moving through. Perhaps naming these can help you process what you’ve been through, name your losses and prep your heart for where we’re heading.
Skepticism; the belief this was a foreign phenomenon that wasn’t coming to America. We continued with our usual plans.
Shock; the disbelief this had jumped our border and every area of life was changing in a hot second.
Reaction; the lightning-fast unfolding of layoffs, technology adoption (for work and church), and stocking up on supplies.
Disorientation; the clumsy stumbling through different ways to do school, work, recreation, church, relationships, and business-like we never have before.
Ambiguity; the perplexing struggle to envision what is next and what summer might look like for our families, businesses, churches, and work schedules.
Re-entry; the hazy conversations touching our fears and next steps on how we may find some kind of routine in every area of life
“The New Different”, the unknown rebuilding of new ways forward that will feel completely unfamiliar to us
What are the results from the extreme amount of change we are living through?
The hard results: Disorientation, exhaustion, emotions (extreme ups and downs), unrealized loss (we’ve all lost things), anxiety (and deeper spirals) and loss of momentum (especially for leaders who do not readjust mindset and processes)
The good results: Innovation (limitation breeds innovation), elimination of excess (rethinking what we need), collaboration (the forced need to work together), reconnection (with people and practices not getting proper attention), and humility (we’ve been humbled in micro and macro).