A pandemic is every risk-specialist’s nightmare, as we are all currently experiencing, given its far-reaching impact on everything we do, and on every element of the supply chain and economy. The uncertainty around it is a challenge unlike any we’ve ever known, given the implications for health, alongside all the logistical and business impacts. And we really don’t like uncertainty.
Life of course is unpredictable, so you might say ‘what’s new?’, but we humans find it terribly difficult to accept we are not at least somewhat in control of our destiny, and when we are faced with something as big in terms of the unknown as COVID-19 it can cause severe anxiety in people.
Why am I mentioning this? Well, it occurs to me that in such times there are solutions to the problem which we need to consider, and be deliberate about putting in place. At a high level it’s about taking control of what we can actually control, which has the benefits of: calming us, reducing anxiety levels, and allowing us to think more clearly. So: what can we actually control?
We can:
• structure our work and leisure days so we know what is coming and we can plan for that
• schedule in our lunch hours and time to clock off work – not falling into the trap of keeping going until too tired to do anything more
• make decisions, - forcing ourselves to move forward on things as opposed to floundering about, or waiting for things to ‘get back to normal’
• plan for activities around the home, such as gardening tasks, DIY and other projects, which we can then assume total control over
• say ‘yes’ to some things and ‘no’ to others, as we would normally do, but clearly identifying the fact that we are doing so at the time: we have choices
• replace our usual social activities with virtual ones, whether online fitness classes, virtual drinks nights, virtual pub quizzes, or meeting with a friend; these occasions tell us that social distancing has not got the better of us, as we can remain close to others if we want to (again, we have the choice)
• manage our own expectations: we are in this for the long haul, it’s a marathon not a sprint, this is only the start; all these messages to ourselves get us eventually away from the attitude that something has been unfairly imposed upon us, which is where we really feel out of control.
So: take control of what you can, and don’t worry about the rest. We were never really in control anyway
