Think back to where you were all those months ago. Perhaps you told yourself lockdown would just be for a few weeks, two months tops. You’d get back to business and everything would be OK.
You might have felt a sense of rising panic as the shops closed. But the question is, what else was going on inside your head?
It’s all too easy to generalise, and we won’t do that here. But even simply observing how we in Europe handled the Covid-19 pandemic, the before, during and after snapshot is fascinating.
Here in the UK from clapping the NHS and carers, to police raids on house parties – it’s been a mixed bag. To say the least. We’ve seen business owners pivot and adapt. We’ve seen many close. Work places have changed their model multiple times. Desks have sprung up on ironing boards and many a Zoom work call has been interrupted by a fretful baby or screaming toddler.
Five Ways Covid-19 Changed How You Think
1 You Became A Strategist
Birthday parties in the park, back garden meet ups, Zoom pub quizzes. When it came to planning around restrictions and protecting your health, your creativity knew no limits. Pre Covid-19, was this you? Possibly not. Post Covid-19 will you take this fresh way of thinking forward? If you’re smart, definitely. You’ve become a problem solver, run with it.
2 You Began Taking Your Mental And Physical Health More Seriously
For most of us, having restrictions placed on our movements and freedoms was a shock. That permitted hour of exercise outdoors became sacred. Never before had getting fresh air and exercise been so vital for your health. The NHS Couch to 5K app experienced an almost 100% surge in downloads during those first few months of lockdown. With gyms and pools closed, you knew how vital it was to keep that connection between mood and exercise strong.
And statistics point to many of those new runners sticking with it. A positive shift in thinking and in health. One we hope goes with us as we return to our work places.
3 You Started Checking In
A note through the door. A call to an older friend or relative. Thinking as a community signalled a sea change for many. You waved to neighbours as you banged saucepans with wooden spoons and browsed boxes of books and toys left on doorsteps.
That initial sense of urgency has dialled down a little now, but we still value each other. Communities are resilient, you are resilient.
4 You Got to Know Yourself Better
Without the distractions of life, you spent more time in your head. You got to know yourself and each other so much better. While that might have been challenging it helped us open up about how we felt and what we needed.
For some of you, your mental health was under pressure from a daily bombardment of information and responsibilities. It was tough. There were days you felt OK and days you really didn’t.
Moods fluctuated and you learnt to take your mental health a bit more seriously. You learnt to become a lot more open about it. Being honest about how you felt made talking easier. You asked others how they were doing and you kept an eye on them. Your mind opened to new ways of helping yourself. You were willing to learn.
5 You Learnt You Could Do It
Despite all the challenges, all the risks to physical and mental health, you did it. You survived. You are stronger for it. You’ve learnt more about yourself, your family and your business than you ever thought possible.
You may still not know what a fronted adverbial is. That’s OK too.
We’re still feeling the economic, social, physical and mental effects of this pandemic but you, you did it. Given time, you’ll realise just how strong you were for yourself, for your family and for your community.
No one wanted to go through this process of self-discovery but you did, because you had to. You dug deep and went to work, from home. With the cat.
The Takeaways
It was a tough time. For everyone. Children missed school and their friends. Parents juggled home, work and many other responsibilities. Some single people felt lonely and isolated. People in dangerous home situations suffered. Some of you became unwell and recovered. Others didn’t. Organisations, charities and businesses collapsed. Others scraped through.
Health concerns for many are ongoing and only time will tell how significant the pandemic’s impact is on mental and physical wellbeing.
Despite these immense challenges, you’ve worked where and when you can. Children have (more or less) been homeschooled, and you’ve done everything in your power to protect your health and the health of others. Family and friends have missed each other, business colleagues have missed each other. The only person you haven’t missed is the Amazon delivery guy. And some of us are calling him a friend nowadays too.
Your Thinking, Your Life Goals
Here at StudioThink, we’ve quietly gone about setting up our business. Like you, we’re people with a huge interest in bringing out the best in ourselves and others. And we’ve spent a lot of time wondering how Covid-19 has changed the way you think. More than ever we’re convinced that what we’re doing here is going to be oh so relevant in our post-pandemic world.
It’s so natural to feel anxious about going back to work. It’s been a long time. Leaving family and heading back to the office feels strange. That’s if the office is even still there.
You’ve become reliant on technology and for the most part that’s been great. Helpful even, but it’s time to take a deep breath. It’s time to think once again about your goals. It’s time to imagine who your best self is. Where you’ve lost self-confidence, it’s time to get it back. If you’ve lost direction, it’s time to refocus. Whether that’s in your personal life, your business life or for any other reason. Life post-pandemic is for you to grab with both hands. It’s time to put yourself back in the driver’s seat of your life, and we’re here to help you.
We’ll soon be unleashing on the world a great little app. We’ve been working on it for months and it’s almost time to release it into the wild. On it you’ll find tools to help you achieve personal goals, some amazingly powerful affirmations, meditations, mindset mixes, the works.
Keep an eye on our social media, and we’ll give you a heads’ up when we’re hitting the go button. Without the pandemic, without lockdown we wouldn’t need this app nearly as much. But because of it and the way your thinking has changed, we know you’re going to love it as much as we do.
Take care
Studio Think
