Why not?
Our new reality is living in a virtual atmosphere most of our day. Parents are working from home, kids are being homeschooled, minus the years of constant back-and-forth conversations to actually homeschool your kid! We're all dealing with anxiety and remnants of depression. We've been catapulted into a world we don't understand with little (or in most cases) no time to prepare. Our BIG PROBLEMS from yesterday, suddenly don't seem so big. We have been separated from our friends and family, ripped from the routines we know and feel safe performing within. We have seeming lost out way in a sea of resources being constantly thrown at us - with no real ease of access to them.
Many of us are just plain scared. Those words don't come easy when little people are counting on us to have different answers. To have words to explain why this is happening to us. 'Mommy, why are you sad?' 'Why can't I play with my friends?' 'Daddy, why are you mad?'
Social isolation has consequences. For many already dealing with anxiety and depression, this time is extremely hard. Our long term consequences can include, but are not limited to, poor eating and sleep habits, poor cardiovascular functioning and even longterm cognitive decline if we're not careful.
What is happening around us?
We're learning that what unites us is bigger than what divides us. We're seeing behaviors that were somehow growing foreign to us. Kindness and compassion was something I was learning to patiently wait for on my timeline. Why not a virtual campfire? We need to be together, to just be! Not to officially meet on a virtual meeting platform we don't understand. Not to compete with the advanced work-from home crew but to check in on each other. To just be together! So why not?
We're all being creative to keep our businesses afloat and stay connected. I've witnessed drive-by birthday parties, front porch concert series, online happy hour and even a wedding! We're all demonstrating how creative we can be and how far we'll go to stay connected. We're seeing how far teachers will go when their school day isn't interrupted by bad behavior. We're seeing how families are truly forced to work together to make life work. Strangers are helping strangers and neighbors, oddly enough are being neighborly.
We're seeing hope. We're seeing leadership. We're seeing kindness and most of all, we're seeing unconditional love.
We're in this together and DVA will always be here to provide a platform to educate and motivate leaders to lead.
You got this! So why not?
We'll see you around the campfire.
Be well