Initially, I thought it did not impact me at all until I observed that I was glued to my TV, feasting on the news which had a negative impact on me. Then I swiftly moved to stress eating and ran to my comfort foods, loading myself with high doses of sugar. I also quickly became restless. After a few weeks, I lost track of days – everyday looked alike and I often felt “Zoomed out” by the evening. Clearly this regime wouldn’t take me far, so I had to introduce changes. In the last two months I have:
1. Learned to manage what I watch and listen to. I’m choosing what actually encourages me and feeds my soul or simply makes me laugh!!
2. Established new exercise routines (with an online fitness trainer – @HasFit)
3. Ran several webinars and exclusive leadership online panel discussions with senior industry professionals
4. Written up my first LinkedIn articles (something I intended to do 2-3 years ago!)
5. Continued sowing/supporting – as a business we haven’t stopped financially supporting our favorite charities: Open Doors and CAP plus a few other individual causes
6. Kept learning – invested in new skills with Sandler Training and digital marketing tools.
7. Together with the Optima Europe team, launched a small tech industry COVID-19 recruitment temperature check – that means we uncovered a good number of SaaS companies still hiring now!
8. Collaborated within my closest network – been inspired and uplifted by my family, friends, good contacts and also my church community.
9. Been contacted by a publisher in Canada to consider a book writing project
10. Was reminded that I’m still in a highly better place than many people around the world. Kindness, generosity, creativity and supporting each other, I believe, will get us through this. I know that I am a work in progress, on these though!
We are currently facing perhaps the biggest disruption to our daily lives since the start of World War 2, so we will need to continue learning and adapting as the post-COVID-19 world evolves.
What are your Lockdown highlights/learnings?
