Blog: Remaining calm and focussed during the COVID-19 pandemic

You will more than likely have been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. The widespread feelings of panic and uncertainty are tangible, and evident in constant news stream and media images of empty supermarket shelves and eerily quiet streets in Europe.

However, we are being encouraged to keep moving forward and make the very best of a challenging and unprecedented set of circumstances. While so much of what is happening around us is out of our control, whether travel restrictions are affecting your schedule or your industry is being severely affected, we can try to remain calm and focussed.

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs”

Rudyard Kipling

Some suggestions to support your efforts to stay calm and effective during a time of great upheaval and stress:

• Go on a media diet – consume news and media on your terms. For example, turn off phone/ news app notifications, only watch the news at certain times per day, limit social media etc. We can make sure we know the essentials of what is happening in the world while limiting the stress triggers in the brain from constantly being bombarded with highly stressful information.
• Adopt a positive approach – what positives can you take from the situation? Even through your schedule is in turmoil and your travel plans have been cancelled…what can you do/ how can you reframe your experience to be grateful for the positives. E.g. with the time available by not commuting you could go for a run outside and/or have lunch with your partner and appreciate the extra time you have together. According to Psychology Today gratitude helps to increase mental strength and may play a major role in overcoming trauma.
• Take the next right action – with huge changes in global governance happening daily and even hourly, life and work can feel overwhelming and uncertain. In order to keep moving forward all we can ever do is take the next right action, based on the information and situation as it is now. Taking this approach will help to avoid panic reactions and, at the other end of the spectrum, panic induced paralysis. Focussing on what you can control, not what you can’t, will help to build feelings of agency and positivity.

“This too shall pass”

Persian Sufi poet

Keep breathing deep, taking the next right action and in time the situation will calm down and life will return to a ‘new normality’. We may even learn valuable lessons which will change the way we do things for the better, for the future and for the generations to come.

If you would like to discuss the challenges your company is currently facing and have an expert on hand as a sounding board for ideas on how to survive these unprecedented times, please click the button below to book a complimentary call with us:

Published March 19th 2020