In a world of uncertainty, one thing is for certain, when all this is over, the world is going to be a very different place than it was before.
Our generation and the generations before us have never experienced anything like this. It’s akin to a film plot and the magnitude and the repercussions on us I’m sure will be felt for years to come.
Predominantly and obviously the main concern has to be around health and keeping everyone as safe as is humanly possible. The NHS deserve a collective knight or dame hood for what they’re doing.
Six months ago, visiting your Gran, doing your weekly shop, a night with friends, or going to your local coffee shop were things any one of us could have been doing. Simple things we took for granted.
Now the every day simple things are lost, maybe temporarily, maybe for good. Who knows how many coffee shops will open their doors again after this?
Coronavirus has of course tragically taken lives but that’s not all – it’s taken away memories, that were yet to be created – exam sitting, proms, official last days of school – so very sad for all those affected.
It’s also taken away respect for others – in some cases. Seeing empty shelves because people are panic buying so pensioners can’t get a loaf of bread or milk is stomach churning to see.
But there is some hope. There is a sense of community. Stories of acts of kindness and people pulling together to help one another, especially the vulnerable are all over social media.
Neighbours offering to do an elderly neighbour’s shopping, people giving up pasta in their basket to give to the pensioner behind them because there’s none left, children sending cards to people in isolation, so they know they’re not being forgotten are all glimmers of humanity, that has sometimes been lost in the digital age.
Every business owner, large or small will be impacted in some way and many owners will wonder if they’re going to have a business left at the end of all this.
But the business community is pulling together. Facebook and Whatsapp groups to support each other were set up in days. Phone-calls and emails, to check in on each other are happening daily and people are Skyping and Facetiming to see how they can work together to help get each other through.
And we’re changing how we work. Face to Face meetings are now being done over Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Webex and many of us are looking at how we can adapt to make sure our businesses survive and one day thrive again.
I’m sure for many of us, the changes will stay and the way we’re working now will have an impact on how we work in the future.
I hope community spirit stays too.
Take the pleasure in the little things is something my Mum always said to me and while we’re working from home, worrying about the welfare of our elderly relatives, whether money’s going to be coming in and how on earth we’re going to home school as well as work, it’s the simple things that will see us through – the daffodils outside, speaking to your neighbours over the fence, about how they’re coping, eating an Easter egg before Easter, because you can.
Before any degree of normality returns, let’s help each other, the business community, the entire community, we’re all in it together and we’re all feeling scared. Be kind, be safe and look after one another. If this pandemic has taught us anything, it should teach us that.
Thanks for reading, look after yourselves.
Tamsin
