This week Harvard Business Review posted a good article about what we should and shouldn’t consider as the country starts to reopen. When you find yourself heading toward unfettered movement, read it again. And remember: nobody really knows.

---

Find Your Pragmatic Path through Radical Uncertainty

May 15, 2020 – Harvard Business Review
Howard Stevenson, Eugene B. Kogan, and Shirley Spence

These are times that none of us have seen before. Amid the radical uncertainty of the corona virus pandemic, fear has reared its ugly head medically, economically, financially, politically, and socially. We all would love to know when life will return to “normal” even if it is a different normal than what we have previously experienced. Many companies are running ads or issuing CEO messages that say: “We are in this together.” Perhaps it is more important for leaders to convey Jerry Seinfeld’s message: “I’m here for you.”

The point may seem trite but it reflects the importance of our ability to trust in our relationships. We each should do our best to keep our relationships reliable and predictable, to be someone on whom others can count during the incredible uncertainty and anxiety we all are experiencing.

To get through this, professionally and personally, here are a few suggestions for things we should do and some we shouldn’t do.

Big-picture observations

Gate A-4

By Naomi Shihab Nye

 

Wandering around the Albuquerque
Airport Terminal, after learning
my flight had been delayed four hours, I
heard an announcement:
“If anyone in the vicinity of Gate A-4
understands any Arabic, please
come to the gate immediately.”

 

Well—one pauses these days. Gate A-4 was
my own gate. I went there.

 

An older woman in full traditional
Palestinian embroidered dress, just
like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the
floor, wailing. “Help,”
said the flight agent. “Talk to her. What is
her problem? We
told her the flight was going to be late and
she did this.”

The Facts of Life

by Pádraig Ó Tuama 

 

That you were born
and you will die.

 

That you will sometimes love enough
and sometimes not.

 

That you will lie
if only to yourself.

 

That you will get tired.

 

That you will learn most from the situations
you did not choose.

 

That there will be some things that move you
more than you can say.

 

That you will live
that you must be loved.

 

That you will avoid questions most urgently in need of
your attention.

 

That you began as the fusion of a sperm and an egg
of two people who once were strangers
and may well still be.

 

That life isn’t fair.
That life is sometimes good
and sometimes better than good.

 

That life is often not so good.

 

That life is real
and if you can survive it, well,
survive it well
with love
and art
and meaning given
where meaning’s scarce.

 

That you will learn to live with regret.
That you will learn to live with respect.

 

That the structures that constrict you
may not be permanently constraining.

 

That you will probably be okay.

 

That you must accept change
before you die
but you will die anyway.

 

So you might as well live
and you might as well love.
You might as well love.
You might as well love.

No one has totally digested what has taken place in the last month, and we are certainly making up the future as we go. Such uncertainty eats energy, which is why many of us feel an unexplained exhaustion.

The best way to combat uncertainty is to create a simple routine. Routines bring a sense of security, because we know what comes next.

That said being quarantined is not something to be mastered. Do what you must and what keeps you sane, short of using alcohol or drugs to stay there. In other words, don’t try to be a “star” at this; “good enough” is fine.

In any case, we are not going to crawl out of this quarantine and skip through summer. It is going to be a nip and tuck process, probably interrupted by new outbreaks. There won’t be anything near “normal” until there is a vaccine. Even then you likely won’t be picking up where you left off before the “house arrest” was ordered.

Adjusting to an on-again off-again post-quarantine schedule will be difficult, which means stress. And stress impacts personal relationships, which means more stress.

When stressed we can either implement an action or focus on self-care. The choice should be easy. How can you effectively implement actions if you are a mess?  You got it. Take care of yourself!

The Smallest Sort of Journey

This is a wonderful day. I’ve never seen this one before.

Maya Angelou

---

We’ve all been listening and reading about how to best handle the quarantine so there is little reason for me to duplicate the advice you’ve already read. What you must do depends upon your circumstance. Your days could be busy with kids. Or you could be living with a partner or living alone. Working, out of work or retired. In any case, I suspect you are striving to create order. 

 

A lot of people are experiencing an underlying sadness. This is normal. We have lost the life we were living a mere few weeks ago. Some people are way past sad and are feeling desperate. If you know a person who is, help them. Provide them resources. We are in this together – epidemiologically entwined.

It seems strange to see the names of “kids” I went to high school with – in my email inbox. But that has been happening since the corona virus outbreak.

I have not attended any of my high school reunions because it is not a simple direct flight to the small town in Ohio. As I type my reason, I sound more practical than sentimental, don’t I? (I will have to think about that.) Or maybe I never returned because thinking about high school brings up painful teenage memories of sitting at home watching “Gunsmoke” painting my nails while everyone else was out on Country Road E necking.

It has been a LONG time since I was in high school.

Regardless, these people are in my inbox. And while I struggle to put a face to their names, I do get an instant felt sense of the person when I see a name.

The feeling of Larry K, for example, is a feeling of devilishness. The name makes me smile.

And what is Larry sending his high school classmates now?

Humor.